Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup upgraded Intel from "hold" to Strong-Buy, and several firms raised price targets, but MarketBeat's consensus remains a Hold with an average target of $72.12 while the stock jumped about 23.3% to roughly $82.
• Intel beat Q1 estimates—$0.29 EPS on $13.58B revenue—issued stronger Q2 guidance, and management cited unprecedented AI/data-center demand, with Tesla's choice of Intel's 14A process validating foundry momentum.
• Big institutional buyers (Norges Bank, Capital World Investors, Vanguard, Morgan Stanley) materially increased positions and now own ~64.5% of shares, while insiders showed mixed activity including an EVP purchase by David Zinsner.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Citigroup from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Intel from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Intel from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Intel from $48.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.12.

Intel Trading Up 23.3%

Shares of INTC opened at $82.37 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $51.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $411.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -132.85, a PEG ratio of 14.78 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Intel has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $85.22.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $13.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.32 billion. Intel had a negative net margin of 5.90% and a positive return on equity of 0.40%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. Intel has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Intel will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David Zinsner bought 5,882 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $42.50 per share, with a total value of $249,985.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 247,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,514,160. This represents a 2.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Boise April Miller sold 20,000 shares of Intel stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.05, for a total transaction of $981,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 113,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,545,593. This trade represents a 15.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.05% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of INTC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Intel in the fourth quarter worth about $2,233,159,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Intel by 32.5% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 86,503,121 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $2,902,180,000 after buying an additional 21,230,715 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Intel by 285.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 26,619,928 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $982,279,000 after buying an additional 19,722,010 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Intel by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 404,522,308 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $14,926,873,000 after buying an additional 13,692,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Intel by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 65,249,269 shares of the chip maker's stock worth $2,407,698,000 after buying an additional 11,056,090 shares during the last quarter. 64.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Intel News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat and raised guidance — Intel reported revenue and EPS above Street forecasts and gave Q2 revenue guidance well above consensus, a direct catalyst for the rally. Intel forecasts second-quarter revenue above estimates (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: AI/data-center demand is driving durable revenue growth — Management cited “unprecedented” CPU demand for AI workloads and expanding data-center sales, which improves near-term revenue visibility and margins. Unprecedented demand has Intel stock soaring (Investopedia)
• Positive Sentiment: Tesla/14A foundry momentum — Tesla signaled it will use Intel’s 14A process for its Terafab AI chips, validating Intel’s foundry progress and adding a high‑profile customer to the pipeline. Elon Musk lays out Terafab AI chip project plan (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rates the story — Multiple firms raised price targets and upgraded ratings after the quarter, adding buying pressure and supporting higher valuation expectations. Citi and Evercore pile into Intel with huge price target hikes (247WallSt)
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate governance update — Intel’s CFO (Dave Zinsner) has taken on the principal accounting officer role in addition to CFO duties; this is an internal organization change investors should note but it’s not an immediate financial catalyst. Intel CFO assumes additional role as principal accounting officer (TipRanks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest ticked up — Short interest rose ~20.9% in mid‑April to ~144M shares (≈2.9% of float); the short‑interest ratio remains low (~1.2 days), so it’s a data point on positioning rather than an immediate squeeze signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking/valuation risk — After a massive rally and fresh all‑time highs, analysts and market commentators caution the move may be stretched and vulnerable to a pullback; several firms still carry neutral/underperform views despite higher targets. Intel is breaking 2000s high: time to be careful (MarketBeat)

Intel Company Profile

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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