We have been following chip stock Intel (INTC) pretty closely out here, whether it is as a news item or part of larger commentary. But the big news out of Intel today is that the “Coffee Debacle” is now a thing of the past, according to new reports. Investors, meanwhile, were less than satisfied about this tempest in a coffee pot and sent shares down fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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While earlier reports suggested that free coffee was back on the menu at Intel Israel, a new report from Tom’s Hardware suggests that it is now universally back. Intel had a surprisingly robust employee benefits program, the report noted, including not only free beverages but also free fruit, fitness coaches in a company gym, a sabbatical program that gave free time off after four years with the company, and the Intel Air Shuttle, which ran flights between Oregon, Arizona, and California.
But Intel brought back the beverages, despite the fact that this is, apparently, a $100 million annual expense on its bottom line. With a massive layoff still in process, a little extra coffee for the survivors might help soften the blow or at least sufficiently caffeinate its workers to take on all that extra work.
Big Buy and Battlemage Arrival
We found out a while back that Intel may be downplaying discrete graphics and that there was some concern about what would happen to the Battlemage line of graphics processing units (GPUs). But PC Gamer revealed that the first chips in the Battlemage line should be hitting stores this December, which will be ahead of both AMD (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) chips. This first-mover advantage might give Intel an edge, even if it is a brief one.
Finally, an unexpected move from Catalyst Capital Advisors rounds out the news on Intel. During the third quarter, the firm picked up 45,432 shares of Intel stock, which at the time were worth around $1.162 million. That by itself may not mean much…but that 45,432 block of shares increased Catalyst’s Intel holdings to 49,522 shares in total. That represents, reports noted, a 1,110.8% increase.
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 seven Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 29.86% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $24.43 per share implies 5.68% downside risk.
