Intel (INTC) shares dropped over 6% in midday trade on Thursday to a two-month low, despite announcing an expanded AI partnership with Google Cloud (GOOGL) and receiving a price target increase from Susquehanna. The stock's decline came amid broader weakness in technology shares, with the Nasdaq-100 falling more than 1.3% as of this writing. Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland raised Intel's price target to $115 from $80 ahead of the company's second quarter earnings due July 23, citing stronger-than-expected server CPU demand and modestly better PC ODM builds in the near term.
Intel and Google Cloud Expand Gemini Enterprise Deployment
Intel and Google Cloud announced they are deepening their earlier multi-year collaboration. Gemini Enterprise will roll out across Intel's global workforce to automate engineering, supply chain, and corporate workflows, according to the companies' joint statement. Google Cloud will supply compute to run alongside Intel's own on-premises hardware for chip-design simulations, with the goal of speeding up the semiconductor development cycle. The earlier multi-year collaboration between Intel and Google Cloud was announced in April and focused on advancing AI and cloud infrastructure, with Intel's Xeon processors continuing to power Google Cloud's AI, inference, and general-purpose workloads.
Susquehanna Raises Intel Price Target to $115
Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland raised his Intel price target to $115 from $80 ahead of the company's second quarter earnings, due July 23 after the closing bell. The new price target implies a potential upside of nearly 20% from INTC stock's current levels. Wall Street expects the firm to report earnings of $0.29 per share on revenue of over $14 billion, as per Koyfin data. Rolland kept Susquehanna's 'Neutral' rating but pointed to stronger-than-expected server CPU demand and modestly better PC ODM builds in the near term. He stated that the server-chip supply-demand imbalance is likely to persist through 2028. The analyst added that the offsetting risk is a sharper-than-usual seasonal slowdown in PC builds in the back half of the year, tied to worsening memory-market conditions, adding that it's the same memory crunch that's been rattling names like Micron (MU) and SanDisk (SNDK), which are scheduled to report Q2 earnings later this month.
Technology Stocks Decline Amid Market Drawdown
The drop in Intel's stock came amid a broader drawdown in the equities market. U.S. equities were mixed in midday trade on Thursday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was down 0.32%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) fell more than 1.3%. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Intel remained in 'neutral' territory over the past day, while GOOGL's stock traded flat.
FAQ
Why did Intel stocks fall on Thursday despite positive news?
Intel shares dropped over 6% in midday trade on Thursday amid broader weakness in technology shares, with the Nasdaq-100 falling more than 1.3%. The decline occurred despite Intel announcing an expanded AI partnership with Google Cloud and receiving a price target increase from Susquehanna.
What is Susquehanna's new price target for Intel stocks?
Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland raised Intel's price target to $115 from $80 ahead of the company's second quarter earnings due July 23. The new price target implies a potential upside of nearly 20% from INTC stock's current levels, while maintaining a 'Neutral' rating.
What did Intel and Google Cloud announce regarding their partnership?
Intel and Google Cloud announced they are deepening their earlier multi-year collaboration by deploying Gemini Enterprise across Intel's global workforce to automate engineering, supply chain, and corporate workflows. Google Cloud will also provide additional compute capacity to run alongside Intel's on-premises hardware for chip-design simulations.
