Chip stock Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) held its innovation day event yesterday and showed off some of the big new advances coming into the field. The bad news was that it failed to capture a lot of imagination, particularly among investors. Investors, in fact, pulled out of Intel and took with them about 2% of Intel’s market cap in Wednesday morning’s trading session.
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Furthermore, Wall Street analysts didn’t exactly like what they saw here either. For instance, Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore noted that the event hit some solid notes about artificial intelligence and Intel’s role therein, but there was little in the way of “big surprises” to light a fire under share prices. Others pointed to improving partnership operations that might give Intel an edge over its competitors and a general focus on AI that will likely serve the stock well.
However, there was one point outside of the innovation day events that may have hit Intel harder in the short term: Word from Intel’s CFO, David Zinsner, revealed that the firm might be having issues with demand for data center chips, a big part of Intel’s sales. Inventory is moving more slowly from Intel to customers’ hands than Intel would like, and the recovery suggested for the data center business is proving “a little bit more delayed” than preferred. Zinsner looks for a turnaround in the first quarter of next year, but that’s quite a ways off and likely contributed to today’s hit.
What is the Stock Prediction for Intel?
Analysts as a whole, meanwhile, are taking a more cautious approach. With six Buy ratings, 21 Holds, and six Sells, analyst consensus calls Intel stock a Hold. Further, with an average price target of $36.19, Intel stock offers an extremely narrow 1.57% upside potential.
