Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Stock Price Up 1.4% – Still a Buy?

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shot up 1.4% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $102.88 and last traded at $102.81. 84,884,748 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 116,241,336 shares. The stock had previously closed at $101.35.

Key Stories Impacting Intel

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Intel revealed additional details about its GPU D-Series, code-named Crescent Island, designed for AI inference. The accelerator offers up to 480 GB of memory, 1.5 TB/s of bandwidth and a 350-watt, air-cooled form factor, potentially allowing enterprises to deploy AI in existing data centers without expensive liquid-cooling upgrades. Intel Stock Notches Up with New Hardware Reveals
• Positive Sentiment: The company is also promoting Xeon systems, open software and ecosystem support to scale agentic AI workloads. The strategy could help Intel compete for cost-conscious inference customers against NVIDIA and AMD while reducing customer dependence on closed hardware ecosystems. Can Intel’s New GPU and Xeon Technologies Enhance its AI Capabilities?
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group modestly raised its Intel earnings forecasts to $1.08 per share for fiscal 2026 and $1.56 for fiscal 2027, above the current consensus estimate of $1.04 for the current year. The upcoming October 22 earnings report will be important for confirming whether improving chip supply is translating into stronger growth. INTC Stock: What to Watch Before Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are comparing Intel with Sanmina as both expand in AI infrastructure. Intel offers greater turnaround and foundry upside, but its valuation and execution risks are substantially higher. Intel vs. Sanmina
• Negative Sentiment: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan warned that financing constraints and uncertain returns on AI infrastructure spending could become major industry bottlenecks. This contributed to pressure across chip stocks. Intel and Broadcom CEOs Warn of Capital Crunch
• Negative Sentiment: Intel’s foundry revenue reportedly grew 31%, but the division still posted an operating loss of roughly $2.1 billion. Investors remain concerned that heavy manufacturing investment, negative margins and the suspended dividend will require stronger AI product adoption to justify the company’s premium valuation. Intel Is Down 20% From Its September High

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Intel from $118.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Intel from $92.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. HC Wainwright set a $150.00 target price on shares of Intel in a research note on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Intel in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Roth Capital increased their price target on Intel from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Intel has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.06.

Intel Stock Performance

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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $518.57 billion, a PE ratio of -48.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 2.22.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.21. Intel had a positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 19.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.10) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Intel has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.380-0.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Intel Corporation will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Intel news, CEO Lip Bu Tan acquired 105,263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $95.00 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,985.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,314,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $124,893,555. This trade represents a 8.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Intel

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Intel by 1.2% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Intel in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,507,291,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 8,342,514 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Intel during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,096,110,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Intel by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,151,467 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $2,255,229,000 after buying an additional 5,053,424 shares during the period. 64.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Intel

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is a global semiconductor company that designs and manufactures computing and connectivity products. Its portfolio includes central processing units (CPUs), graphics and accelerator products, chipsets, networking components, and other semiconductor solutions used in personal computers, servers, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence systems, and embedded applications.

The company serves a broad range of customers, including original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, enterprise businesses, telecommunications companies, government organizations, and other technology firms.