Everything must go at Intel (INTC), apparently. The chip stock is starting to look like it is being sold off down to the bare walls as it restructures its business, and two major new moves have emerged. The news is not sitting well with shareholders, though, as Intel is down nearly 3% in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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First came reports that Intel was looking to sell at least some of its stake in Mobileye Global (MBLY), the automated driving systems provider. Reports note that Mobileye has been having a rough go of things these days, and that was enough for Intel to consider cutting bait and getting back some of that cash.
The move did Mobileye no favors, as it slid over 7% in Friday afternoon’s trading. And given that Intel owns 88% of Mobileye, selling off that property could mean a lot of cash in Intel’s coffers. Mobileye’s current market cap is around $9.47 billion, though it remains to be seen who would cough up for the company. Indeed, it is a bad time to be an automobile supplier right now, as more automakers have cut production to address a growing supply glut of new vehicles.
Qualcomm Wants a Piece, Too
Moreover, Intel may have an interested buyer for part of its design business in the form of Qualcomm (QCOM). A Reuters report noted that Qualcomm is looking at all of Intel’s design units, but of particular interest is Intel’s client PC design operations.
Qualcomm has not actually approached Intel about this, and certainly, some elements of Intel—like its server business—would make little sense for Qualcomm to push into. However, given Qualcomm’s recent push into the PC market, it stands to reason that it would want to support that operation with a lot more design firepower and maybe get Intel out of that bracket altogether. However, Intel noted that it is deeply committed to its PC business.
Is Intel a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on one Buy, 26 Holds, and six Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 49.83% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $26.09 per share implies 38.34% upside potential.
