Wall Street has spent years wondering when Intel would turn the corner. For a long stretch, patience wore thin.
Now one of the most closely watched chip analysts on Wall Street is sending a clear signal that the turnaround story has legs.
His latest note landed just days after Intel (INTC) posted numbers that even skeptics found hard to ignore.
Intel’s comeback story picks up steam
Intel has been rebuilding itself piece by piece since Lip-Bu Tan took over as CEO around 15 months ago.
He trimmed layers of management, cut the workforce, and pushed the company to move faster and listen more closely to customers.
The turnaround attempt translated to investor optimism, driving INTC stock higher by 350% over the last 12 months.
Intel’s second-quarter revenue hit $16.1 billion, well above the company’s guidance.
Data center sales jumped 59% year over year, marking one of the strongest results the segment has ever posted.
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“Q2 was another quarter of solid execution,” Tan told investors on the company’s earnings call.
Tan added:
“Revenue, gross margin, earnings per share were above our guidance. This marks the seventh consecutive quarter of exceeding our financial expectations.”
Intel spent years missing targets while rivals pulled ahead. Seven straight quarters of beating expectations is the kind of consistency that forces analysts to take notice.
Behind the scenes, the bigger driver is demand.
Companies building out AI infrastructure need far more server processing power than before, and Intel says its central processing units are becoming just as important to that build-out as the graphics chips that get most of the headlines.
CFO David Zinsner explained why during the same call: data center operating profit doubled compared with the prior quarter, climbing to $2.5 billion, as improved product margins and lower expenses helped the segment along.
Cheng Chia Huang/Getty Images
JPMorgan analyst nearly doubles his price target
According to TipRanks:
- JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur raised his price target on Intel stock to $85, up sharply from $45.
- Notably, Sur maintained his existing “Sell” rating on INTC stock even as he lifted the target.
- The analyst holds a 5-star rating and ranks among the top 15 analysts tracked by the platform, with an average return of 44.9% and a success rate above 72%.
- He covers the technology sector closely, and his calls tend to carry weight with institutional investors watching semiconductor names.
Sur’s price hike followed Intel’s stronger-than-expected revenue outlook.
Intel is now forecasting third-quarter sales between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion, and even the low end of that range already tops what analysts had penciled in.
Related: Intel and AMD just got leverage they haven’t had in years
The data center segment, where sales surged 59% in the prior quarter, was the biggest driver behind the improved outlook.
Sur’s revised target reflects growing confidence that Intel’s recovery has significant momentum, fueled largely by rising demand from enterprise computing customers.
A near doubling of a price target from a highly ranked analyst is not something that happens on a hunch.
It typically reflects a broader shift in how Wall Street views a company’s earnings power over the next year or two.
What next for INTC stock
Intel executives have been careful not to overpromise, even while acknowledging the demand they are seeing is unusual.
Zinsner did not mince words when describing the supply and demand imbalance the company is facing.
“If you just stamped something and called it a CPU right now, it probably would sell,” he said at a recent investor conference, describing just how tight supply has become across the industry.
That kind of demand does not appear across a company’s product lineup by accident.
Intel has spent the past year raising capital spending, expanding factory capacity in Oregon and Arizona, and pushing its newest manufacturing process, known as 18A, into wider production.
The company also raised its 2026 capital spending outlook to more than $20 billion, a notable jump from what it expected entering the year.
For investors, the combination of improving execution, rising demand, and a major price target increase from a top-rated analyst adds up to a story that is difficult to dismiss.
Intel still has real work ahead, particularly in closing the profitability gap in its foundry business. But after years of disappointment, Wall Street appears to be paying closer attention again.
Related: Goldman delivers a candid response after Intel’s stunning quarter
