Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Shares Climb 4% – Still a Buy?

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) rose 4% during trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $92.09 and last traded at $90.47. 97,785,725 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 115,740,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.96.

Intel News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research upgraded Intel to Buy and set a $125 price target, citing a shortage of server CPUs. Limited industry capacity could give Intel greater pricing power and help offset weakness in the traditional PC market. Intel Rises 5% as New Street Upgrade Cites Server CPU Shortage
• Positive Sentiment: RBC expects Intel to beat third-quarter estimates and raise guidance, with AI infrastructure demand supporting its data-center and server processor businesses. Investors are particularly focused on evidence that higher utilization and demand are translating into better margins. Intel Expected to Beat Q3 Estimates, Raise Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Reports of discussions between Intel and rival AMD are fueling speculation about a possible partnership or other strategic cooperation. While details remain unconfirmed, any agreement could improve Intel’s competitive position and broaden its ecosystem. Intel Stock Surges After Talks With AMD
• Positive Sentiment: Intel unveiled its Crescent Island GPU D-series and Xeon-based rack designs for memory-intensive, “agentic” AI inference. The products target expanding data-center workloads and emphasize open ecosystem support. Intel Unveils Crescent Island GPU D Series
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-quarter earnings are the immediate catalyst. Options markets imply a potentially large post-earnings move, making management’s guidance on server demand, foundry spending, and gross margins more important than the headline results alone. Traders Are Pricing an 11% Swing in Intel Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include Intel’s heavy foundry investment, uncertain customer commitments, margin pressure, and intense competition from AMD, NVIDIA, and TSMC. A weak outlook or failure to demonstrate sustained profitability could quickly reverse the current optimism. INTC Stock Before Q3 Earnings

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Intel from $92.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Intel from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Intel in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Intel from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.23.

Intel Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $456.58 billion, a PE ratio of -42.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.23 and a beta of 2.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.18.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $16.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.43 billion. Intel had a negative net margin of 19.79% and a positive return on equity of 2.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Intel Corporation will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Intel

In other news, CEO Lip Bu Tan bought 105,263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $95.00 per share, with a total value of $9,999,985.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,314,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,893,555. The trade was a 8.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Intel by 1.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 216,849,675 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $30,278,720,000 after purchasing an additional 2,528,657 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in Intel in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,507,291,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Intel by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 38,969,192 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $1,719,710,000 after acquiring an additional 5,045,936 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Intel by 35.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 31,724,362 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $4,429,673,000 after acquiring an additional 8,342,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Intel by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 30,700,929 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,354,832,000 after acquiring an additional 112,054 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.53% of the company’s stock.

About Intel

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is a global semiconductor company that designs and manufactures computing and connectivity products. Its portfolio includes Intel Core processors for personal computers, Xeon processors for data centers and enterprise systems, and products for networking, edge computing, graphics, and artificial intelligence workloads.

Through Intel Foundry, the company also provides semiconductor manufacturing and technology-development services for external customers. Intel develops process technologies, advanced packaging, and other manufacturing capabilities intended to support its own products and third-party chip designs.

Founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, Intel helped establish the modern microprocessor industry and has historically supplied processors for PCs, servers, and other computing systems.