Two Wall Street banks say Intel is poised for a strong rebound after first-quarter results showed that the once-slumping chipmaker has successfully transformed itself into one of the leading U.S.-based suppliers of AI hardware. Intel stock soared 25% in premarket trading Friday. Evercore ISI raised Intel’s rating from Inline to Outperform and raised its 12-month price target from $45 to $111 after the latest numbers were released after Thursday’s market. Intel was trading at nearly $67 early Friday. Citigroup also upgraded Intel from Neutral to Buy following the latest financial results. Analysts at the bank raised their price target for Citi’s Intel from $48 to $95. “It was easy to dislike INTC…but three things have changed,” Evercore analyst Mark Lipasis said in a note to clients Friday. “Fast-growing AI workloads require more (central processing units)…(and) INTC’s new CEO is implementing a strategy that appears to have fixed the balance sheet and put INTC back on a competitive track.” Citigroup said Intel also has geopolitical advantages, pointing to its unique position as “the only leading-edge chipmaker based in the U.S.” and recent partnerships with the federal government, Nvidia, and Tesla. The bank said it expects more such agreements. Intel reported first-quarter earnings of 29 cents per share, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of 1 cent, according to LSEG data. Revenue of $13.58 billion exceeded analysts’ estimates of $12.42 billion compiled by LSEG. By Friday, Intel had already soared 211% over the past year as the artificial intelligence industry expands in the U.S. and abroad. INTC 1Y Mountain Intel Stock Soars 211% in 12 Months During the boom, Nvidia and SoftBank made big investments in Intel. Last August, the company announced that the U.S. government had poured about $11 billion into the company to help bring semiconductor manufacturing to the state. The partnership reflects growing demand for domestically produced chips that can power AI bots, a trend that Citi said is likely to sustainably boost Intel stock. “Agent AI-driven improvement in CPU demand should drive revenue growth for all CPU suppliers in the coming years,” Citi analyst Atif Malik said in a note to clients on Friday. According to Citi, Intel now expects its CPU business to achieve double-digit growth in 2026, “primarily driven by unit sales growth, with[average selling prices]benefiting from core count growth, exceeding prior expectations of modest growth six months ago,” Malik wrote. The analyst added that he expects Intel to maintain these gains in 2027. The new management team after the reform in 2025 is also a tailwind. In March 2025, veteran semiconductor executive Lip Vu Tan took over the reins of Intel. Since then, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel’s operating margins have improved by 500 basis points, or 5 percentage points, and its net debt position has improved by $17 billion. The Street has been lagging behind Intel’s earnings recovery and stock price recovery. Of the 47 analysts covering Intel, only 34 rate the stock as a “hold” and only nine rate it a “buy” or “strong buy.”
