“Stay in your lane” seems to be the theme of choice for Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) investors today as the chip maker makes an unexpected push via its Intel Capital fund. Though it might be helpful for its foundry aspirations, investors weren’t pleased and sent shares plummeting over 4% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
Intel Capital is putting cash behind Buildots, a construction company that turns to artificial intelligence (AI) and “computer vision” to create digital versions of construction sites. Such efforts can work to track construction progress and improve workflows, reducing the chances of unexpected construction delays.
This is just the latest effort for Buildots, which has so far raised about $106 million. In fact, it completed a $60 million tranche just two years ago. With Intel looking to do quite a bit more construction in the near term as part of its ongoing aspirations to become a chip foundry, having access to improved construction capability might be a real help.
New Raptor Lake Chips Emerge
But Intel did not just have future chips on tap today; it also has some more current hardware coming out. The Raptor Lake line got a bit of a refresh today as a new dual-core version emerged, packing the new 310 processor and two P-Cores running at 4.1 GHz.
This is regarded as something of an odd move, but the new version is offering up a little extra juice in its boost clock. It’s actually ahead of some of its competitors by at least some points. But it’s still considered a lower-end processor, which will give it at least some access to the bargain hunter market.
Is Intel a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on three Buys, 24 Holds, and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 0.24% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $38.02 per share implies 13.51% upside potential.
