Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Stock Price Down 1.5% – Here’s Why

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s share price fell 1.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $64.98 and last traded at $65.27. 86,272,880 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 108,581,609 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.26.

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)

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on INTC. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Intel from $56.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Intel and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Intel from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Intel from $48.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Intel from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Intel presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.12.

Intel Trading Up 23.3%

The firm has a market capitalization of $411.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,029.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $50.39 and its 200 day moving average is $44.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.28. Intel had a negative net margin of 0.51% and a negative return on equity of 0.44%. The business had revenue of $13.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Intel has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Intel Corporation will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Intel

In other news, EVP David Zinsner purchased 5,882 shares of Intel stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $42.50 per share, for a total transaction of $249,985.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 247,392 shares in the company, valued at $10,514,160. The trade was a 2.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Boise April Miller sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 113,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,545,593. This trade represents a 15.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Intel by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 404,522,308 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $14,926,873,000 after acquiring an additional 13,692,624 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Intel by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,536,784 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $7,695,007,000 after acquiring an additional 5,714,400 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Intel by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 104,060,268 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $3,839,833,000 after acquiring an additional 17,557,147 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Intel by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 101,931,512 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $3,744,406,000 after acquiring an additional 3,124,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Intel by 20.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.53% of the company’s stock.

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.