If you’re hunting for the stock symbol for Broadcom, you’ve probably noticed something a little off. You type "Broadcom" into your broker's search bar and up pops AVGO.
It’s not a typo. It doesn't look like the name at all. Honestly, it’s one of those "if you know, you know" quirks of the Nasdaq that reveals a lot about how this company became a $1.7 trillion monster.
Most people expect a ticker like BCOM or BRCM. In fact, BRCM used to be the symbol back in the day. But today, if you want a piece of the company powering everything from your iPhone’s Wi-Fi to Google’s massive AI data centers, you’ve gotta look for AVGO.
Why in the world is the symbol AVGO?
The "AVGO" ticker is a ghost of a company called Avago Technologies.
Back in 2016, a company called Avago—which was actually a spin-off from the old Agilent Technologies, which itself was a spin-off from Hewlett-Packard—decided to buy the "old" Broadcom for about $37 billion. It was a massive deal at the time.
The CEO, Hock Tan (who is basically the final boss of semiconductor M&A), decided to keep the Broadcom name because it had better brand recognition. However, they kept the Avago ticker symbol.
It’s a classic power move. They changed the suit, but kept the DNA. So, when you buy AVGO, you’re technically buying into the corporate legacy of Avago that swallowed the original Broadcom and then just kept eating other companies like CA Technologies, Symantec, and most recently, the $69 billion acquisition of VMware.
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The 10-for-1 split changed everything for retail traders
If you looked at Broadcom's price in early 2024, you might have choked on your coffee. It was trading north of $1,700 or $1,800 a share. For most people just trying to put a few hundred bucks into their IRA, that’s a "keep dreaming" price point.
That all changed on July 15, 2024.
Broadcom executed a massive 10-for-1 stock split. Basically, they took every high-priced share and chopped it into ten smaller pieces. If you owned one share at $1,700, you suddenly owned ten shares at $170.
The math is simple:
- Pre-split: 1 share = $1,700 (approx)
- Post-split: 10 shares = $170 each (approx)
Why did they do it? Liquidity. It’s way easier for employees to participate in stock plans and for regular folks to buy in when the price isn't the cost of a used Honda Civic. Since then, the stock has been much more active in the retail space.
Is Broadcom just an "AI stock" now?
Lately, everyone wants to talk about Broadcom in the same breath as Nvidia. While Nvidia makes the "brains" (the GPUs), Broadcom makes the "nervous system."
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Broadcom’s secret weapon is something called ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). Instead of a general-purpose chip, they work with companies like Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook) to build custom chips specifically for their needs.
Google’s TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) is the poster child here. Broadcom helps design those. And as we sit here in early 2026, those custom AI chips have moved from being a side project to a primary revenue driver. In the most recent fiscal reports for Q4 2025, AI-related revenue surged to roughly $6.5 billion. That's about a third of their total business.
Management is even more bullish for 2026. They're projecting AI revenue to hit $8.2 billion just in the first quarter. If you're looking at the stock symbol for Broadcom because you want an AI play, you’re looking at the right place, but for different reasons than Nvidia. Nvidia sells a product; Broadcom sells a partnership.
The VMware "Problem" and the Dividend
You can't talk about AVGO without mentioning VMware. When Broadcom closed that deal in late 2023, it sent shockwaves through the IT world.
They immediately shifted VMware’s business model from "buy it once and own it" to a subscription-only model. Some enterprise customers saw their costs jump by 400% or more. It wasn't popular with IT managers, but for shareholders? It turned Broadcom into a software powerhouse with recurring, predictable cash flow.
That cash flow is what fuels the dividend. Broadcom is a rare beast: a high-growth tech company that actually pays you to hold it.
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- Dividend Yield: Usually hovers around 0.7% to 1% depending on the price.
- Recent Hike: They recently bumped the quarterly dividend to $0.65 per share (post-split).
- The "Hock Tan" Model: Buy a company, cut the fat, raise prices on the essential parts, and funnel that cash back to investors.
What most people get wrong about AVGO
A lot of folks think Broadcom is just a "chip company." That’s a mistake.
They are a diversified infrastructure giant. If you use a smartphone, you’re using Broadcom. If you use a cloud service, you’re using Broadcom. If you work at a big corporation using virtualization software, you’re using Broadcom.
The risk? They are heavily tied to the "hyperscalers"—the Googles and Microsofts of the world. If those companies stop spending billions on AI data centers, Broadcom feels the pinch. Also, their valuation isn't exactly "cheap." Trading at over 50 times trailing earnings means the market expects a lot of perfection.
Actionable insights for your next move
If you’re looking to get into AVGO, don't just jump in because of the AI hype. Here is how to actually look at it:
- Watch the AI Mix: Keep an eye on the percentage of revenue coming from AI. If it starts to stall below 40%, the "growth" story might be cooling off.
- Check the VMWare Retention: Watch for news about customers fleeing VMware for alternatives like Nutanix or Microsoft’s Hyper-V. If the "subscription squeeze" causes a mass exodus, that software revenue will dry up.
- Use Limit Orders: The stock can be volatile. Don't just hit "market buy." Pick a price you’re comfortable with.
- The Symbol is AVGO: Again, don't forget it. If you type BRCM, you're looking at a ghost.
Broadcom is basically a bet on the underlying architecture of the modern world. Whether it’s AI, 6G, or cloud computing, they’ve positioned themselves as the "toll booth" that everyone has to pay to get through. Just make sure you're comfortable with the price of the toll before you buy in.
To get started, you can look up the current real-time price on the Nasdaq using the AVGO ticker to see how it's trending this week. Check the latest earnings call transcripts to see if Hock Tan mentions any new custom silicon deals with major cloud providers. These partnerships are often the biggest catalyst for price movement outside of general market trends.