By Chris Katje
Analysts are diving into the second quarter financial results reported by Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Thursday after market close.
Here are the key takeaways from the second quarter and the future of Intel.
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon had a Market Perform rating and raised the price target from $32 to $34.
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh had a Sector Weight rating and no price target on shares.
Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann had a Sell rating and a price target of $17.
Needham analyst Quinn Bolton had a Buy rating and raised the price target from $36 to $40.
Intel’s second-quarter results were “quite strong,” according to Bernstein’s Rasgon.
“Q3 guidance was also above though growth is coming mostly from client as the channel approaches normal in the 2H,” Rasgon said.
Rasgon said the datacenter results were “objectively bad” with continued headwinds.
The analyst said the numbers for several segments are moving in the right direction.
“Intel’s problems have broken through to the forefront. But at this point, near-term fundamentals may have troughed.”
KeyBanc’s Vinh called the results from intel solid and noted that PC inventories have normalized.
“We’re encouraged by these results but await further proof points of share stabilization in servers and progress on IFS,” Vinh said.
The analyst said server demand is weak for the company and inventory digestion could continue in the second half for Intel.
“AI contribution remains modest, as pipeline increases to over $1B.”
Despite a second-quarter beat from Intel, Rosenblatt’s Mosesmann reiterated a Sell rating and saw weakness across several sectors for the semiconductor company.
“Overall, a solid recovery quarter for Intel with mixed implications for the shares — PC cycle bottoming and uncertain data center trajectory. Intel is focused on AI, with most of its roadmap now AI-tagged in some form,” Mosesmann said.
The analyst said Intel has a $1 billion business pipeline for artificial intelligence.
“We don’t see AI as an investable theme for Intel shares currently.”
Mosesmann said Intel is “slowly” delivering on its longer-term goals.
The second quarter and guidance from Intel was “largely positive,” according to Needham’s Bolton.
“Intel delivered a recently elusive beat and raise, outperforming on all line items,” Bolton said.
The analyst said Intel has been gaining market share back in the PC segment.
“INTC looks to be a strong beneficiary for the next upcycle and management argues the company’s new ‘AI PC’ will be the catalyst.”
Bolton said the data center was an area of weakness in the second quarter and could continue to put pressure on Intel.
“With new CEO Pat Gelsinger coming onboard, we believe Intel will be able to identify weaknesses in its processor roadmap and re-establish its processor performance leadership.”
INTC Price Action: Intel shares are up 4.86% to $36.24 on Friday versus a 52-week trading range of $24.59 to $40.42.
Read Next: Intel Discloses $32.7B Investment In Germany, Projects Creation Of More Than 10,000 Jobs
Photo: Weldon Kirsch, Courtesy Intel
Latest Ratings for INTC
Date
Firm
Action
From
To
Mar 2022
Morgan Stanley
Downgrades
Equal-Weight
Underweight
Feb 2022
Raymond James
Upgrades
Underperform
Market Perform
Feb 2022
BMO Capital
Maintains
Market Perform
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Saba Fatima and Maham Javaid