Overview
- Intel beat fourth-quarter expectations but guided Q1 revenue to $11.7 billion–$12.7 billion with break-even EPS, sparking a roughly 17% share decline.
- CFO David Zinsner said Intel cannot meet all customer orders, and CEO Lip-Bu Tan acknowledged yields are below target, with KeyBanc estimating 65%–75%.
- Reporting says Intel cut older-line capacity before a surge in AI data-center CPU orders from major cloud and AI customers, resulting in lost sales opportunities.
- Intel’s foundry unit remains deeply loss-making, with about $10.3 billion in 2025 operating losses and quarterly losses of $2–$3 billion as RBC projects meaningful external revenue only by late 2028.
- Wall Street remains cautious: many rate the stock a hold, Morgan Stanley raised its target to $41 (Equal Weight), Bank of America set $40 (underperform), Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon is at $21, and Gene Munster labeled the stock a “meme” play fueled by high-profile backing from Nvidia, SoftBank and the U.S. government.