Intel (INTC) got a big vote of confidence this week as HSBC set a Street-high price target of $200, doubling its previous target of $100, while reiterating its Buy rating on the stock.
INTC opened at $120.35 on Friday. The stock has a 52-week low of $18.97 and a 52-week high of $142.35, and its 50-day moving average sits at $115.64.
HSBC analyst Frank Lee said Intel is “well positioned to deliver upside” to 2026 and 2027 server CPU shipments, driven by internal foundry capacity reallocation.
Lee raised his 2026 server CPU shipment growth estimate from 20% to 25% year-over-year. That puts his DCAI revenue estimate at $24.1 billion, about 4% above Wall Street consensus.
He went further on 2027, lifting his shipment growth estimate from 20% to 30% year-over-year, arguing that the Street still underestimates Intel’s growth potential for that year.
Lee also pointed to Intel’s foundry narrative as improving. He said the company’s EMIB — Advanced Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge — technology could drive “material upside” for the foundry segment.
With TSMC’s additional 3nm capacity not coming online until the second half of 2027, Lee says customers are actively looking for alternative foundry partners. Intel is emerging as a top option.
Apple and Terafab have already signed on as Intel foundry customers. Talks are ongoing with Google and NVIDIA. Lee noted that Intel’s EMIB can scale to 12x reticle size, compared to CoWoS-S which peaks at 3.3x — making it an attractive option as TSMC CoWoS capacity remains tight.
Institutional investors collectively hold 64.53% of INTC. QRG Capital Management boosted its position by 29.2% in Q1, ending with 485,549 Intel holdings valued at around $21.4 million.
Norges Bank opened a new position worth over $2.2 billion in Q4. Vanguard holds over 404 million Intel units valued at nearly $14.9 billion. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position by 285.9% in Q4.
Intel’s Q1 2026 earnings beat expectations by a wide margin — reporting $0.29 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.01. Revenue came in at $13.58 billion, beating the $12.32 billion estimate and up 7.4% year-over-year.
Jim Cramer recently named Intel as his favorite stock, citing CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s turnaround efforts and pointing to three growth areas for the company.
The consensus analyst rating on INTC is currently “Hold” with an average price target of $96.69 — well below where the stock is trading. Two analysts carry a Strong Buy, 15 have Buy ratings, 28 are at Hold, and four have Sell ratings.
Intel’s Q2 2026 EPS guidance is set at $0.20, with the full-year analyst consensus at $0.63 EPS.
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