Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest jumped 20.9% in April to 144,272,202 shares (about 2.9% of the float), leaving a days‑to‑cover ratio of 1.2 based on average daily volume.
• Q1 results topped revenue and EPS estimates and reinforced data‑center/AI momentum, spurring multiple analyst upgrades and sending the stock to multi‑month/52‑week highs.
• Intel has launched a bond sale to fund a $14.2 billion buyback of its Irish fab—adding near‑term leverage—while the chief accounting officer’s departure and recent insider selling raise governance and short‑term risk considerations.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 144,272,202 shares, an increase of 20.9% from the March 31st total of 119,356,759 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 119,430,905 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on INTC. Evercore set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a research report on Friday, April 24th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Intel from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. KGI Securities lowered shares of Intel from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $71.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, April 20th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Intel from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Intel from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Intel has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.98.

Key Intel News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results and commentary showed meaningful revenue and EPS beats and reinforced data-center/AI momentum, giving the market confidence in Intel’s turnaround. Intel Corporation (INTC) Announces Fiscal Q1 2026 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple firms and brokers have raised estimates and price targets (Northland increases, Freedom Broker “buy” upgrade cited), lifting sentiment and validating upside expectations. Intel, AMD stock rally on fresh bullish coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Several outlets note the stock hitting multi‑month/52‑week highs amid analyst target increases and heavy flows into AI/semiconductor names, which fuels momentum trading. Intel (INTC) price target increased by 62.20% to 76.88
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry supply dynamics are tightening — CPUs are in short supply as cloud/data-center buildouts accelerate; that supports near-term pricing/power but also signals capacity constraints. CPU Shortage Is So Bad, Even Intel’s ‘Scrap’ Is Turning Into Gold
• Neutral Sentiment: Intel is raising cash via a bond sale to finance buying back a stake in its Irish fab — strategic for capacity control but adds near-term leverage and complexity around financing. Intel Launches Bond Sale To Fund $14.2 Billion Ireland Plant Buyback
• Negative Sentiment: Management turnover risk: Intel’s chief accounting officer has stepped down to pursue another role — could be a distraction and raises short‑term governance questions. Intel Just Lost Its Chief Accounting Officer. Is That a Red Flag or a Nonissue for INTC Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators warn the rally may be “too far, too fast” and that valuation now embeds a near‑perfect execution scenario; contrarian pieces suggest trimming gains. Intel: I'm Selling My Biggest Winner And You Should Too
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI/ecosystem headlines (e.g., concerns around OpenAI revenue targets) have triggered intermittent pullbacks in chip names; Intel could be susceptible to sector-wide sentiment swings. Intel Stock Is Up 92% in April. How to Safeguard Your Gains.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intel

In other news, EVP Boise April Miller sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.05, for a total transaction of $981,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 113,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,545,593. This represents a 15.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co boosted its position in shares of Intel by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 120,000 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $4,026,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 55,521,741 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $1,862,755,000 after acquiring an additional 8,569,812 shares in the last quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP bought a new stake in shares of Intel during the 3rd quarter worth $349,000. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 84.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 56,490 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 25,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Intel by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 11,662,576 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $430,349,000 after acquiring an additional 759,951 shares in the last quarter. 64.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Intel Stock Up 12.1%

Shares of Intel stock opened at $94.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $473.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -152.82, a PEG ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 1.35. Intel has a twelve month low of $18.97 and a twelve month high of $94.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $53.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.44.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $13.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.32 billion. Intel had a positive return on equity of 0.39% and a negative net margin of 5.90%.The business's revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. Intel has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Intel will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

About Intel

Intel Corporation, founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a leading global designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products. The company is historically notable for introducing the first commercial microprocessor and for driving the x86 architecture that underpins many personal computers and servers. Intel's core business spans the design, fabrication and marketing of processors, chipsets and related components for a wide range of computing applications.

Intel's product portfolio includes client and mobile processors marketed under brands such as Intel Core and Pentium, as well as high-performance Xeon processors for data centers and cloud infrastructure.

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