Wall Street Zen Upgrades Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) to Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Intel from "Hold" to "Buy" and several other firms have recently raised ratings or price targets, though MarketBeat's consensus remains "Hold" with an average target of $74.47.
• Intel delivered a sizable Q1 beat (EPS $0.29 vs. $0.01 est.; revenue $13.58B vs. $12.32B) and set Q2 guidance, and U.S. antitrust clearance of its SambaNova investment removed a key regulatory overhang for its AI infrastructure push.
• Shares jumped about 5.4% toward the 52‑week high amid strong inflows and momentum, but options-implied volatility and analyst warnings about the rally being overextended point to an elevated risk of sharp pullbacks.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

INTC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Roth Mkm raised Intel from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Intel from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. DZ Bank raised Intel from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Intel from $66.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised Intel from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $74.47.

Intel Trading Up 5.4%

Intel stock opened at $99.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $500.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -160.67, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 2.18. Intel has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $100.45. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $54.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.31.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $13.58 billion during 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 0.39%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. Intel has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Intel will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Intel

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

Institutional Trading of Intel

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INTC. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Intel by 271.8% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 34,201 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $766,000 after buying an additional 25,001 shares during the period. United Bank purchased a new stake in Intel during the second quarter valued at about $205,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in Intel by 12.3% during the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 13,737 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 1,508 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Intel by 29.6% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 158,277 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $3,545,000 after buying an additional 36,116 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Intel by 9.9% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 828,352 shares of the chip maker's stock valued at $18,556,000 after buying an additional 74,838 shares during the period. 64.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Intel

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: U.S. antitrust authorities cleared Intel's investment in SambaNova, removing a major regulatory overhang tied to the deal and validating Intel's push deeper into AI infrastructure; that clearance is a clear near‑term positive for sentiment. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q1 operational beat: Intel reported a sizable EPS and revenue beat and issued stable Q2 guidance, which lifted the investment thesis that Intel is converting AI infrastructure demand into durable revenue growth. Investors are treating the quarter as confirmation that Intel can compete for large data‑center spend. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum, liquidity and positioning: April was Intel's best month ever on Nasdaq with massive inflows (including outsized moves in leveraged ETFs), drawing new retail and institutional attention and reinforcing momentum‑driven buying. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst revisions and upgrades are supporting the re‑rating: some firms hiked FY estimates and moved coverage to stronger ratings — this helps the fundamental narrative but may already be priced into the rally.
• Negative Sentiment: Elevated volatility and dispersion in expectations: options markets imply large moves and traders are pricing sharply divergent outcomes for INTC through the summer — that raises the risk of sharp pullbacks if momentum stalls. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Profit‑taking / overbought warnings: Several analysts and market commentators say the rally may be overextended in the short term and that every incremental bit of good news is being bought — investors should expect higher intraday swings and potential pullbacks. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Sector sensitivity: short‑term chip sector moves are still being influenced by cloud/AI spend signals (for example, OpenAI growth outlooks), which can weigh on chip names if cloud customers temper guidance. Read More.

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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