The news does not always behave as we might expect. Chip stock Intel (INTC) demonstrated as much today, and with shocking clarity. A report emerged that Intel had all but been removed from the graphics card market, but, despite this, shares were up over 3.5% in Wednesday’s trading.
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The good news for Intel is that it is still one of the unquestioned leaders in the personal computer (PC) gaming market. Why? Because it produces most of the regular processors on the market, and those processors come with integrated graphics functions. However, Intel’s presence in the “discrete graphics” market has pretty much finished its run, noted a report from Jon Peddie Research.
The report noted that PC graphics card shipments hit 9.5 million units in this year’s second quarter. That is actually up 9% against the first quarter’s figures, and that alone proved unexpected. Normally, the second quarter should dip, not increase. And worst of all, Intel was now effectively 0% of this market. Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) sits at 88%. The remaining 12%, meanwhile, is all in Advanced Micro Device (AMD) hands.
New Chips and Customers
Nvidia’s lead is so substantial right now that some are wondering if the company should just buy Intel and be done with it. A report from Forbes noted that Nvidia might well make the better “suitor for Intel,” because it could pay significantly more. How much more? Up to 50% more than Qualcomm (QCOM) could offer. Given that Nvidia is worth more than 15 times what Qualcomm is, that also puts it in a better position. Leaving aside, of course, the threat of regulators.
And Intel may want to consider such offers. Reports suggest that Intel’s entire turnaround plan is focused on the Clearwater Forest chip line, its first 18A chip that will go into high-volume manufacturing. Given that Pat Gelsinger himself declared this a “bet-the-company” plan, it needs to work, and it needs to work well.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock. This is based on one Buy, 26 Hold and seven Sell ratings assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 29.04% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $25.47 per share implies 7.97% upside potential.
