Chip stock Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) just took a bit of bad news, as performance on some of its major processors recently suffered a fairly marked decline. Still, Intel shares are up fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading in spite of this development.
There are already several reports emerging about performance on some of Intel’s higher-end chips, particularly the Core i9-14900K. There have been some attempts to fix the stability issues—Asus released a BIOS update geared toward fixing the problem at the motherboard level—but they haven’t come without cost.
Asus’ fix, for example, brought with it a 9% reduction in performance for some processes. The fix includes a tool known as the Intel Baseline Profile, and it disables certain optimizations to improve overall stability.
That Wasn’t the Only Problem
Certainly, that’s bad news for Intel, but it only got worse from there. Reports emerged about Intel’s new Battlemage Xe2 graphics processing unit (GPU), and the reports suggest its versatility might be somewhat limited. It may, in fact, be limited to DisplayPort 2.0 UHBR13.5 support, which means it won’t be offering support for the 2.1 standard.
Though this is disappointing on a certain level, most will likely agree that UHBR13.5 will do nicely in most settings. Of course, then came news that an Intel contractor, Ivan Higgs, is suing Intel following what he describes as the loss of his sense of smell after exposure to certain chemicals. Higgs is seeking half a million dollars in damages.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold, or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on five Buys, 25 Holds, and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 17.91% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $44.17 per share implies 28.33% upside potential.
Is It Wise to Allocate $1,000 Toward INTC Stock Right Now?
Before you hurry to invest in INTC, think about the following:
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