Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Stock Price

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Citigroup from $50.00 to $48.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the chip maker’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.50% from the company’s current price.

INTC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Intel from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday. Northland Securities set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Intel in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Intel in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Intel currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $44.10.

Intel Price Performance

INTC stock opened at $45.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.23 and its 200-day moving average is $33.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.30 billion, a PE ratio of -563.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 1.35. Intel has a 1 year low of $17.67 and a 1 year high of $54.60.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The chip maker reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $13.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion. Intel had a negative return on equity of 0.46% and a negative net margin of 0.51%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. Intel has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.000-0.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Intel will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Intel

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Intel in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,579,378,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Intel by 32.5% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 86,503,121 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $2,902,180,000 after purchasing an additional 21,230,715 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Intel by 210.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 15,498,219 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $346,230,000 after purchasing an additional 10,514,007 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Intel by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 55,521,741 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $1,862,755,000 after purchasing an additional 8,569,812 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Intel by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 385,903,735 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $8,644,244,000 after purchasing an additional 8,513,298 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.53% of the company’s stock.

Intel News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on headline numbers — Intel exceeded expectations for revenue and EPS (Q4 revenue $13.67B; non‑GAAP EPS $0.15), showing demand traction for AI and PC products. Intel Q4 results
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts raised targets or reiterated support post‑report, citing the long‑term foundry/AI opportunity (examples: Benchmark raised its target and Jefferies nudged its target higher), which underpins the bullish narrative for a multi‑year turnaround. Benchmark price target raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Street reaction is mixed — several firms kept Hold/Neutral ratings while others moved to Buy or Sell; commentary is split between excitement about long‑term AI demand and skepticism about near‑term execution. Analyst reaction roundup
• Negative Sentiment: Weak Q1 guidance was the main trigger — management guided Q1 revenue below consensus ($11.7B–$12.7B vs. ~$12.6B expected) and issued flat/very low EPS guidance, signaling supply will constrain growth in the near term. Reuters: Q1 guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Manufacturing and yield troubles — multiple reports and management comments point to capacity/yield shortfalls that prevent Intel from meeting booming AI/server demand; investors worry margins and inventory dynamics will be pressured. Bloomberg Tech: manufacturing snags
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and supply‑chain implications — rivals and component makers (AMD, Micron, TSMC-related stories) are seeing relative upside as Intel’s supply issues create share and pricing opportunities for others. MarketWatch: AMD vs Intel

Intel Company Profile

Intel Corporation, founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a leading global designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products. The company is historically notable for introducing the first commercial microprocessor and for driving the x86 architecture that underpins many personal computers and servers. Intel’s core business spans the design, fabrication and marketing of processors, chipsets and related components for a wide range of computing applications.

Intel’s product portfolio includes client and mobile processors marketed under brands such as Intel Core and Pentium, as well as high-performance Xeon processors for data centers and cloud infrastructure.