Some exciting news emerged for chip stock Intel (INTC), particularly if the news proves accurate. But investors did not take it near so well as might be expected. Reports noted that Intel’s planned Panther Lake lineup may have leaked early, with as many as 12 different stock-keeping units (SKUs) revealed in the leak. Intel shares, however, slipped fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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There will be around 12 SKUs, if the leaks hold true to launch, and the classes will be fairly evenly split. Four of these will be U-series units, and another four will be Core Ultra. The remaining four will be Core Ultra X models. There is also an unexpected wrinkle that casts a bit of doubt on the leak, though, as some of the processors are oddly named. A low-end processor in the lineup will go by the name “Core Ultra 7/9 X3X8H.” Normally, there is no X before the model name, so it should be “Core Ultra 7/9 3XBH.” Whether this is intentional or a fault that points to the leak’s inaccuracy is unclear.
Meanwhile, the Core Ultra 5/7/9 3X5H series, the report noted, will represent a “significant” downgrade for the iGPU lineup. Each of these will only boast four Xe3 GPU cores, which is reportedly similar to the Core Ultra 3/5/7 3X0U lineup.
Cause for Alarm
But Intel is facing some bigger problems from one of its primary competitors, AMD (AMD). It recently opened up a deal with OpenAI to bring in new AI chips, a move that sent AMD stock blasting up and left Intel on the back foot. While Intel did set up a similar deal with Nvidia (NVDA), AMD setting up its own deal with a major AI provider will leave Intel in a bad position.
With both Nvidia and AMD firing up their AI ambitions, and Intel still trying to recover from its slow start, this leaves Intel in a bad position overall. Intel needs to innovate, and harder, at a time when Intel’s ability to innovate might be at its lowest thanks to ongoing cost-cutting measures and mounting layoffs.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on two Buys, 27 Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 64.57% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $26.18 per share implies 28.68% downside risk.
