Chip stock Intel (INTC) pulled off something of a coup when the United States government bought in on Intel’s stock. The move gave Intel a sorely needed boost in its cash flow, and also, to a lesser extent, its credibility. But even as Intel sold 10% of its operations to the United States, President Trump wondered if he should have gotten more for the investment. That detail sat poorly with investors, who sent Intel shares down over 2% in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Forget margin or options. Here's how the pros trade NVDAThe buyer’s remorse apparently kicked in quickly, as Trump noted that he “…should have asked for more,” not long after Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan declared that Trump had a deal. Trump further went on to note that Intel would be “…the biggest company in the world right now,” had he been in office back in 2020, when he could have leveled tariffs against the companies sending in chips from other markets like China.
The United States’ investment in Intel has turned out to be quite a winner. This is especially true given the massive run-up in Intel shares that has taken place over the last six months. And with Lip-Bu Tan declaring, “The CPU is reinserting itself as the indispensable foundation of the AI era,” that only makes Intel a potentially bigger winner yet.
Speaking of Regret
Meanwhile, the regret around Intel is not limited to Trump. In this case, though, it is a regret that Intel missed rather than having to endure. Intel once almost killed off a technology known as Omni-Path. That system would have been spun off into a completely new company several years ago. But new reports suggest that Omni-Path is active today, and allowing Intel to compete with Nvidia (NVDA) in one of its markets.
Omni-Path was originally conceived as an alternative to InfiniBand, which is Nvidia’s network fabric technology. And while Intel was about to kill it and shuttle it off, a company called Cornelis Networks stepped in to take it over, giving Intel Capital a stake. The two companies are now complementary vendors, and Intel now has a piece of a market that Nvidia currently holds.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on 11 Buys, 24 Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 408.75% rally in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $87.09 per share implies 24.67% downside risk.
