Intel Corporation Upgraded For Better Valuation, Improving PC Outlook

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Northland Capital Markets upgraded Intel on Monday, citing an improving PC outlook and better valuation after the recent selloff. Analyst Gus Richard upgraded the chip maker to Outperform from Market Perform and kept his price target at $32, which was 13% above Friday’s closing price.

Is the worst over for Intel’s PCs?

Richard believes that the worst for Intel’s PC business is over and that the excess inventory after the Windows XP corporate refresh is cleared. He sees the completion of the Altera acquisition as a positive catalyst and expect virtual reality to boost the company’s PC business in 2017. Richard believes the new 3DXpoint memory to be a game changer.

“While it is too early to tell, Intel’s recently-announced 3DXpoint memory could provide a significant outperformance advantage over competitors,” Richard said.

On Friday, Merrill Lynch issued a bullish note on Intel, reaffirming its Buy rating with a price target of $35. The firm’s analysts noted that the chip maker has the ability to register growth in the upcoming quarters and expect a CAGR of 15% for the coming three years. The numbers are based on the assumption that the chip maker will face no problem in executing its strategy. The investment Bank is positive on Intel’s memory chips business with the development of 3D Xpoint chips, which are being developed with the help of Micron Technology.

Analysts bullish on DCG growth

After attending Intel’s Data Center Day and the Hot Chips Industry conference in Cupertino, Canaccord analysts Matthew D. Ramsay and Steven Lee are confident on Intel’s Data Center Group growth. The analysts expect a 15% CAGR DCG in the long term, noting that the chip maker’s “core cloud server growth potential is supplemented by innovation and market share gains potential in memory, silicon photonics, networking, and other markets.” Canaccord has a Buy rating on Intel with a price target of $39.

Intel stock is down 18% over the past three months; in comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined 7.6%. Despite the losses the stock has seen in the last four weeks, it was able to outperform the market, losing only 1.7% versus almost a 6% loss for the S&P 500 and NASDAQ. Year to date, the stock is down by over 22% while in the last year, shares are down by over 18%.

In premarket trading today, Intel shares were down 1.72% at $28.54.

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