Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Stock Price Up 1.8% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shot up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $103.66 and last traded at $101.65. Approximately 74,130,580 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 120,330,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $99.81.

Key Intel News

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Progress toward HDMI 2.1 support is boosting optimism about Intel’s consumer-PC and graphics capabilities, potentially improving the appeal of its platforms in home-entertainment and gaming devices. Intel Stock Gains With Progress on HDMI 2.1
• Positive Sentiment: Intel appointed new leadership focused on customer engagement and growth. The move is intended to strengthen relationships with customers and support execution of the company’s turnaround strategy. Intel Announces Leadership Appointment
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage continues to highlight Intel’s strongest revenue growth in more than 15 years, narrowing Foundry losses, improving 18A manufacturing yields and demand-linked capital spending. Second-quarter revenue was about $16.1 billion, up roughly 25% year over year, with adjusted EPS of $0.42. Intel’s Turnaround Entered a New Phase
• Positive Sentiment: SoftBank’s earnings benefited substantially from gains on its Intel investment, providing a favorable external signal for INTC and reinforcing investor interest in Intel’s AI and semiconductor exposure. SoftBank Earnings Benefit From Intel Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Intel is reportedly involved in a planned Texas chip-factory project with SpaceX and Tesla. If completed, the project could support domestic manufacturing and AI infrastructure, but its long-term financial impact is not yet clear. SpaceX and Tesla Chip Factory
• Negative Sentiment: Daiwa Securities Group downgraded Intel to Hold, signaling that valuation and execution risks may limit further gains after the stock’s substantial rebound. Intel Cut to Hold at Daiwa Securities
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of a new CPU-level security attack created concern about potential vulnerabilities in Intel processors and could increase reputational, remediation and customer-support costs. Intel Stock Slips on CPU-Level Attack Reports
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts continue to question whether Intel can compete with TSMC in leading-edge manufacturing. TSMC’s larger revenue base and stronger execution highlight the substantial challenge facing Intel Foundry.

Analyst Ratings Changes

INTC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Intel from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Intel from $75.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Intel from $100.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Intel from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Intel presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.93.

Intel Stock Up 1.8%

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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $111.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.51. The company has a market cap of $512.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.18 and a beta of 2.22.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $16.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.43 billion. Intel had a positive return on equity of 2.62% and a negative net margin of 19.79%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.10) earnings per share. Intel has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.380-0.380 EPS. Research analysts expect that Intel Corporation will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in INTC. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Intel by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 593,043 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $21,883,000 after buying an additional 86,189 shares in the last quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Intel in the 4th quarter worth about $205,000. Heritage Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Intel in the 4th quarter worth about $219,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Intel in the 4th quarter worth about $185,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Intel by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 255,261 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $9,419,000 after acquiring an additional 13,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.