Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Shares Down 1.8% – Here’s Why

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s stock price was down 1.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $43.92 and last traded at $44.62. Approximately 72,370,846 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 127,026,344 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.46.

Intel News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NVIDIA disclosed a large Q4 2025 stake in Intel (~214M shares, ~$7.9B) and has framed collaboration with Intel on AI infrastructure and PCs — a high-profile strategic investor/partner that can support demand and industry validation. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlights NVIDIA’s purchase as a deliberate bet on Intel’s role in x86 CPUs and broader AI stacks, which could increase Intel’s addressable market if integration succeeds. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “Neutral” rating on INTC, signaling analyst caution despite recent developments — investors should not see consensus upgrades yet. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Intel confirmed upcoming investor outreach (CFO fireside chat at a Morgan Stanley conference), giving management a platform to address strategy, foundry progress and guidance — useful for near-term clarity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta expanded a multigenerational AI data-center deal with NVIDIA that includes Nvidia CPUs/servers — a move many analysts say could displace Intel and AMD in key hyperscaler deployments, raising competition risk for Intel’s data-center CPU roadmap. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Execution and demand concerns persist: Q4 beat on EPS but revenue fell year-over-year and reports flag low foundry yields, prior losses and weak near-term guidance — analysts point to reduced ratings and downward pressure on the stock absent visible improvement. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on INTC shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Intel in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. New Street Research lifted their price target on shares of Intel from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Intel from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Intel from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Intel from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $45.74.

Intel Trading Down 1.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $222.88 billion, a PE ratio of -557.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day moving average is $43.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.65 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The chip maker reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $13.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.37 billion. Intel had a negative return on equity of 0.44% and a negative net margin of 0.51%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. Intel has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.000-0.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Intel Corporation will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Intel

In other news, EVP David Zinsner acquired 5,882 shares of Intel stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $42.50 per share, with a total value of $249,985.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 247,392 shares in the company, valued at $10,514,160. This trade represents a 2.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $981,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 113,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,545,593. This represents a 15.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INTC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Intel during the second quarter worth approximately $1,579,378,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Intel by 32.5% during the 3rd 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Intel by 285.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 26,619,928 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $982,279,000 after purchasing an additional 19,722,010 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Intel by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 404,522,308 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $14,926,873,000 after purchasing an additional 13,692,624 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Intel by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 65,249,269 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $2,407,698,000 after purchasing an additional 11,056,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.53% of the company’s stock.

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.