Wall Street analysts are still skeptical on Intel despite its latest moves aimed at righting the ship. Shares of Intel gained more than 3% on Tuesday after the chipmaker said it would turn its foundry business into an independent unit, allowing it to raise outside capital . The company also announced an expanded collaboration to supply Amazon Web Services with Xeon chips and produce a custom artificial intelligence fabric chip, as well as additional U.S. government funding. Still, Bank of America kept its underperform rating, and JPMorgan reiterated the stock as underweight. Bernstein, Citi and Wells Fargo reiterated their market perform, neutral and equal weight ratings, respectively. While the analysts viewed Intel’s announcements as a positive, most emphasized the statements were better clarification on the company’s strategy rather than actual incremental changes. INTC 1D mountain INTC rises “There was no new financial model provided (unchanged opex cuts, no new capex intensity) nor were there any updates on success of critical 18A manufacturing node,” wrote Bank of America’s Vivek Arya. “AWS win sounds impressive but INTC has already been supplying AWS with CPU for a long time so customization isn’t exactly something new, while the AI fabric (networking) win on 18A will probably matter only from CY26 while competing against tough Ethernet switch incumbency from AVGO and others.” Arya’s $21 price target on the stock implies less than 1% upside from Monday’s close. Citi analyst Christopher Danely acknowledged Intel’s $3 billion CHIPS Act funding as a “mild positive,” but does not see this moving the needle in the near term since this is over several years. The analyst added that Intel’s plan to establish its foundry business as an independent subsidiary was “expected and not good.” “We expect Intel’s EPS to be under pressure given its foundry business, which we believe has minimal chance of succeeding,” he wrote. Danely’s price target of $25 points to nearly 20% upside. Intel shares have lagged the broader semiconductor sector year to date, losing 56% during that time. Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) has soared nearly 35% in 2024.
