Intel's stock has been so strong that even skeptics have changed their minds

MW Intel's stock has been so strong that even skeptics have changed their minds

By Hannah Pedone

The chip maker's stock is on track for the best month in at least 46 years - leading to no fewer than two analyst upgrades two days before it reports earnings

Intel's stock is up roughly 50% so far this month, putting it on pace for its best one-month percentage gain on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Intel's stock is on a tear - and as demand booms for its central processing units, analysts seen even more room for gains.

Shares of Intel have soared 50% so far in April, putting the stock on pace for its best-ever monthly gain based on data going back to 1980, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

That rally was enough to get skeptic BNP Paribas analyst David O'Connor to back away from his bearish call on the stock. While he hasn't yet flipped to bullish, O'Connor raised his rating on Intel shares to neutral Tuesday, ahead of the company's earnings report slated for Thursday. He noted that the "take-off" in agentic artificial intelligence is driving strong demand for the Intel's server chips.

Intel's stock was up 0.7% in recent afternoon trading Tuesday. It was just below its 26-year closing high of $68.50, seen on both April 16 and April 17.

O'Connor believes that Intel's progress on designing 14A - the company's next generation of chip technology, with a 1.4 nanometer processing node - has been garnering interest from customers and could translate to wins for the company in late 2026 and early 2027. He said that updates on 14A are likely to be a key driver for the stock through this year.

O'Connor noted that he previously held concerns over Intel's ability to compete with Arm Holdings $(ARM)$ and Advanced Micro Devices $(AMD)$ for market share on its server chips, but that concern has become less important as demand for Intel's CPUs grows due to hyperscalers vying for limited supplies.

However, in order to adopt a more bullish outlook, he said he would be looking to see progress in its foundry designs.

Read more: Intel's stock has been 'absolutely on fire.' Now it needs to deliver on the hype.

Meanwhile, HSBC's Frank Lee has seen enough to turn bullish. He upgraded the stock to buy from hold, and boosted his price target to a Wall Street high of $95, which implies 44% upside from current levels.

He sees "game-changing" potential for Intel's server CPUs starting this current quarter, amid overall foundry capacity constraints.

"[W]e continue to believe the server-CPU business is the key near-term catalyst to drive earnings upside," and that's still not priced into the stock even after the recent gains, Lee wrote in a note to clients.

Tigress Financial Partners analyst Ivan Feinseth, who reiterated his bullish view on Intel's stock, told MarketWatch that he's optimistic about the upcoming earnings results and added that they will most likely lead him to increase his 12-month price target. That target is currently $66, which is right around where the stock is now trading.

Feinseth said that Intel's recent partnerships have been catalysts for the stock in April. He noted that the early-April announcement of Intel's collaboration with Google $(GOOGL)$ $(GOOG)$ on central processing units for AI data centers, as well as its move to buy back Apollo Global Management's $(APO)$ stake in a joint venture related to Intel's foundry in Ireland, had contributed to the stock moving higher this month.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government and Nvidia (NVDA) - which invested $8.9 billion and $5 billion, respectively, in Intel last year - are "two of the best anchor investors that you could have" in a company, he added, with those partnerships having given investors a much more favorable view of the stock.

Feinseth said the company is now "ahead of the AI curve" and he expects the stock to move "a lot higher" going forward.

See also: The historic surge in chip stocks highlights Micron's valuation, and a related warning

-Hannah Pedone

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April 21, 2026 15:13 ET (19:13 GMT)

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