Melius Research believes Intel’s outlook will improve. The company upgraded the semiconductor maker from hold to buy. The bank also raised its price target to $50 from $44, implying an upside of about 27%. Intel’s stock price rose 84% in 2025. This significantly outpaced the S&P 500’s 16.4% gain. Analyst Ben Reitz wrote that Intel is upgrading with some of its new chips, the 14A node, scheduled for release in 2027. INTC 1Y Mountain INTC 1Y Chart “There is a good chance that NVIDIA (Intel shareholder) and Apple will seriously consider production chips, which will be in the 14A node by 2028/2029, and this news will be fully reflected in the stock price throughout 2026, potentially increasing book value,” Reitz said. The analyst also noted Intel CEO Lip Vu Tan’s business relationships with more powerful companies, including President Donald Trump, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su. Reitz added that he is more optimistic about Intel’s foundry assets and chip manufacturing business this year. He also praised Intel’s packaging assets, which he said could provide a near-term tailwind for the stock. “Intel’s packaging assets are in increased demand given the scarcity, which could provide a small boost to foundry performance even in the near term. Intel’s EMIB technology for advanced packaging uses a silicon bridge similar to TSMC’s CoWoS-L, allowing for more chiplets and higher yields to support the very large packages that are important for AI chips,” he wrote.
