For all the problems that chip stock Intel (INTC) is facing these days, it is hard to believe that the magic bullet solution to it all is just to get people back in the office four days a week. Yet that is what a recently revealed memo laid out as far as Intel’s near-term plans go. Investors were happy for anything that looked like positive movement and gave shares a modest boost in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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The latest reports noted a memo that described Intel’s plan to be back to a four-day office policy by September, which is now just under a month away. This move required some renovation on Intel’s part, as sites needed to “…complete…necessary improvements to operate at full capacity,” noted the memo. Intel had already announced the four-day return-to-office policy back in April, but now, the policy is about to take effect.
Some regarded this as a bold move, especially in light of Intel’s move to cut jobs at an almost frantic pace. It is indicative, reports suggest, of a “broader transformation strategy.” A case can certainly be made for such an assessment. However, it does not seem to answer the matter of how Intel can recover lost market share and make new opportunities simply by having fewer people and making sure they show up at the office more often.
“Somebody Forgot to Look up What Cheap Means.”
And then, something worse happened, something that will likely not be fixed by having the marketing department physically sitting at their desks. Word emerged on pricing for the Core Ultra 120 line, and revealed that it would be a surprisingly potent processor available at a cheap price. It would be “…Intel’s version of a Ryzen 5 9600X,” reports noted, but then the prices rolled out.
The Core Ultra 120 is set to sell at $246.01, while the scaled-back Core Ultra 120F—which lacks an iGPU—sells for a hair less at $216.66. By way of comparison, AMD’s (AMD) Ryzen 5 9600X retails at $73 right now. There is some hope here; these early prices might just be placeholder prices. Which means, by the time they actually go live, the Core Ultra price tag could drop accordingly. Hopefully, it will, if Intel wants any hope of actually selling these processors.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on one Buy, 25 Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 3.98% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $22.25 per share implies 14.19% upside potential.
