These 2 stocks are set to benefit as Agentic AI lifts CPU intensity

Bank of America raised Dell's price target to $246 from $205 and HPE's to $38 from $32, reiterating Buy ratings on both names. The firm argues agentic AI will drive more CPU-intensive, sequenced inferencing workflows, boosting demand for AI servers, infrastructure solution stacks, and storage. BofA estimates Dell has about 12% share of total AI server revenues, while HPE is projected to generate $6.5 billion in AI server revenues this year.

Analysis

The market is likely underappreciating that agentic AI is not just a demand story for accelerators, but a mix-shift toward system-level bottlenecks where CPU, memory, networking, and storage capture more of the wallet. That matters because the incremental dollar in these builds is typically less winner-take-all than GPUs: more vendors can participate, gross margins can be defended through integration, and the revenue pool broadens beyond the chip layer. In that setup, Dell and HPE are better positioned than pure hardware peers because they monetize the architecture transition through both server refreshes and higher-value solution stacks.

The second-order effect is on the competitive set. If agentic workloads force more orchestration and state management per task, then storage and networking suppliers should see a lagged but persistent tailwind, while lower-end commodity server OEMs risk margin pressure as buyers spec up configurations. The real medium-term beneficiary may be the ecosystem around enterprise deployment rather than the AI model layer itself, because enterprise buyers care more about throughput per workflow than raw model benchmark wins.

The main risk is timing: the thesis is structurally positive over 12-24 months, but near-term revenue inflection could lag the narrative by several quarters if agentic adoption remains experimental. There is also a valuation risk if the market already starts discounting the next upgrade cycle before bookings convert to shipments. Conversely, if AI spend broadens from training/first-pass inference into production agents, the upside could persist longer than consensus expects, especially in the Neo Cloud and enterprise refresh channels.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Go long DELL on a 3-6 month horizon via common stock or call spreads; best risk/reward is a staged entry on any post-rally consolidation, targeting the re-rating from infrastructure mix shift rather than near-term earnings.
• Go long HPE vs. SMCI as a quality-vs-beta pair trade over 1-2 quarters: HPE should benefit from broader enterprise/server demand with less execution risk, while SMCI is more exposed if the market rotates from pure GPU intensity to CPU/storage-heavy system builds.
• Add a basket long in NVDA + DELL + HPE for 6-12 months, but size Dell/HPE larger than NVDA if the goal is to capture second-order infrastructure spend; the asymmetry is better in the picks-and-shovels around deployment than in the already-consensus accelerator leader.
• Consider short-dated covered calls on DELL if implied volatility spikes after upgrades; the thesis is real but likely to unfold over months, so monetizing elevated vol while retaining upside can improve carry.
• Watch for confirmation in guidance from server, storage, and solution-stack bookings over the next 1-2 earnings cycles; if order growth fails to broaden beyond AI servers, trim exposure because the market may be extrapolating too aggressively.