Wall Street Warms to SoftBank’s AI Pivot as Analysts Project 22% Upside

The strategic shift by SoftBank Group Corp. toward artificial intelligence infrastructure is gaining validation from Wall Street analysts. Following a series of major investments executed in late 2025, market experts are now responding favorably to the Japanese conglomerate's transformation, raising questions about its successful evolution from a volatile tech investor into a focused AI powerhouse.

Market observers are highlighting a fundamental change in SoftBank's investment philosophy. The company has moved away from the broad, venture capital-style dispersal of capital across hundreds of startups via its Vision Fund. Analysts now commend a more focused and integrated portfolio structure, which is viewed as more resilient to market volatility. A cornerstone of this stability is the firm's majority stake in chip designer Arm Holdings.

Dual Analyst Upgrades Fuel Momentum

This revised strategy has recently been underscored by two significant analyst actions within days of each other. BTIG Research initiated coverage of SoftBank's stock with a "Buy" rating, assigning a price target of 5,400 yen. This projection suggests an approximate 22% upside from recent trading levels.

This move followed a similar upgrade earlier in the week from Citigroup, which also issued a buy recommendation. The cumulative effect of these positive signals has provided support for the share price, which had already advanced over 4.5% at the start of the week. BTIG's optimism is largely rooted in what it terms SoftBank's "Physical AI" strategy—a plan that combines the processing power of Arm with tangible applications in robotics and infrastructure.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SoftBank?

Billion-Dollar Bets Define a New Profile

The analyst upgrades serve to validate the aggressive strategic plays made by CEO Masayoshi Son in December 2025. Two landmark transactions have been central to reshaping the company's profile:
* OpenAI Stake: A $41 billion investment increased SoftBank's ownership in the creator of ChatGPT to approximately 11%.
* Infrastructure Expansion: The $4 billion acquisition of DigitalBridge secured critical access to data centers and connectivity assets.

Market watchers interpret these moves as a deliberate consolidation on the foundational layers of AI: semiconductors (via Arm), large language models (via OpenAI), and data center infrastructure (via DigitalBridge). This vertical integration is seen by analysts at BTIG as a key factor in reducing the historical discount to net asset value (NAV) that has often weighed on the stock.

The upcoming quarterly earnings report is anticipated as the next major catalyst for investors. Company management is expected to provide concrete figures on the integration of DigitalBridge and offer transparent accounting for the valuation of its OpenAI stake. Such disclosures will be crucial for fundamentally supporting the share price trajectory toward the 5,400 yen target.