It is no secret, at this point, that chip stock Intel (INTC) is having a cash crunch right now. It has slashed employee counts, it briefly shut down several perks for those who remain, and staged several other cost-cutting measures. A new effort, described in an exclusive report from The Channel Company, details one of the latest measures to shift its costs. Investors, once again, were not happy, and Intel shares lost nearly 3% in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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The report spoke to Dave Guzzi, Intel’s new head of channel, who revealed that Intel would be putting a lot more weight on partner funding in 2025. It would be getting some of that weight, meanwhile, by paring back on direct partner coverage. Interestingly, the total investment will be going up in 2025 against what it was in 2024, but the percentage distributions will be changing.
Intel has several noteworthy product developments coming out in 2025, Guzzi noted. The Core Ultra chips will be making an appearance, the new Xeon processor line, among others, and thus Intel is looking to call attention to those. But with Intel’s margins not what they used to be, and a lot of Intel’s free cash going into the foundry program, that leaves Intel reconsidering a lot of its sales and marketing initiatives.
Price Cuts, Ratings Stability
With a new line of Xeon processors set to emerge, it really is not surprising that Xeon 6 models are looking at price cuts, according to reports. In fact, Intel reportedly cut the prices on its Xeon 6 “Granite Rapids” chips by as much as $5,340 against what they were at launch. Now, Intel’s chips are actually cheaper than their equivalent at AMD (AMD), which could be a very useful development.
However, Cantor Fitzgerald is taking something of a wait-and-see approach here, and is maintaining its Neutral stance. Its price target is also holding at $22 per share, which is not far from where it currently trades. With Intel looking to report results soon, Cantor Fitzgerald is looking for a match for expectations, and a slight paring back of future guidance.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on one Buy, 22 Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 53.12% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $23.61 per share implies 17.03% upside potential.
