Royal Bank Of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Stock

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) had its target price raised by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $48.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the chip maker’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 2.88% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on INTC. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Intel from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Intel to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, New Street Research raised their price objective on Intel from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Intel has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.98.

Intel Stock Performance

NASDAQ INTC opened at $82.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.65. Intel has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $85.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $411.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -132.85, a P/E/G ratio of 14.78 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.37.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.28. Intel had a negative net margin of 5.90% and a positive return on equity of 0.40%. The firm had revenue of $13.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Intel has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Intel will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Intel

In other news, EVP David Zinsner bought 5,882 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $42.50 per share, for a total transaction of $249,985.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president owned 247,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,514,160. This trade represents a 2.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Boise April Miller sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.05, for a total transaction of $981,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 113,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,545,593. The trade was a 15.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Intel

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co raised its position in shares of Intel by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 120,000 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $4,026,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Intel by 18.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 55,521,741 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,862,755,000 after buying an additional 8,569,812 shares in the last quarter. Katamaran Capital LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Intel during the third quarter worth approximately $349,000. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in shares of Intel by 84.7% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 56,490 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $1,895,000 after buying an additional 25,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Intel by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 11,662,576 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $430,349,000 after buying an additional 759,951 shares during the last quarter. 64.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Intel

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 beat and raised guidance — Intel reported revenue and EPS above Street forecasts and gave Q2 revenue guidance well above consensus, a direct catalyst for the rally. Intel forecasts second-quarter revenue above estimates (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: AI/data-center demand is driving durable revenue growth — Management cited “unprecedented” CPU demand for AI workloads and expanding data-center sales, which improves near-term revenue visibility and margins. Unprecedented demand has Intel stock soaring (Investopedia)
• Positive Sentiment: Tesla/14A foundry momentum — Tesla signaled it will use Intel’s 14A process for its Terafab AI chips, validating Intel’s foundry progress and adding a high‑profile customer to the pipeline. Elon Musk lays out Terafab AI chip project plan (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rates the story — Multiple firms raised price targets and upgraded ratings after the quarter, adding buying pressure and supporting higher valuation expectations. Citi and Evercore pile into Intel with huge price target hikes (247WallSt)
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate governance update — Intel’s CFO (Dave Zinsner) has taken on the principal accounting officer role in addition to CFO duties; this is an internal organization change investors should note but it’s not an immediate financial catalyst. Intel CFO assumes additional role as principal accounting officer (TipRanks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest ticked up — Short interest rose ~20.9% in mid‑April to ~144M shares (≈2.9% of float); the short‑interest ratio remains low (~1.2 days), so it’s a data point on positioning rather than an immediate squeeze signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking/valuation risk — After a massive rally and fresh all‑time highs, analysts and market commentators caution the move may be stretched and vulnerable to a pullback; several firms still carry neutral/underperform views despite higher targets. Intel is breaking 2000s high: time to be careful (MarketBeat)

About Intel

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.