** Shares of chipmaker Qorvo QRVO.O up 0.7% premarket to $89.60, bucking broader selloff in tech space, after Piper Sandler goes to 'overweight' from 'neutral'

** Investors hammered tech stocks on Mon, sending the likes of Nvidia NVDA.O plummeting, as Chinese AI startup DeepSeek cast doubts on Western dominance in the sector

** Piper boost PT on QRVO from $85 to $110, implying ~24% upside to stock's last close

** Upgrade based on potential for improving QRVO's fundamentals given Starboard's involvement, Piper writes in note, adding "current setup is ripe for this activist to come in and derive operational and capital efficiencies"

** Shares of QRVO on Jan 17 soared 14% after Starboard Value revealed 7.7% stake worth more than $500 mln, looking to boost the Apple AAPL.O supplier's weak share price

** Now, Of 28 analysts covering QRVO, recommendation breakdown is 5 "strong buy" or "buy", 20 "hold" and 3 "sell" or "strong sell", per LSEG data

** Median PT of $90 down from $120 on Oct 27

** Through Fri, stock has rallied 27% YTD following 38% loss in 2024. In comparison, Philadelphia chip index .SOX up ~7% to begin 2025 after 19% gain last year

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))