Intel Has Tripled in 2026. The Sell in May Case for the Year’s Biggest Comeback Story

By Trey Thoelcke Published May 13, 7:15AM EDT

Quick Read

Applied to Intel (INTC), the adage “Sell in May and go away” offers a convenient excuse to confront an important question: what do you do with a stock that has gone parabolic?
The fundamentals support a rerating, as Intel’s turnaround under CEO Lip-Bu Tan looks genuine.
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Intel Has Tripled in 2026. The Sell in May Case for the Year’s Biggest Comeback Story — © 24/7 Wall St.

The old market saying tells investors to “Sell in May and go away,” parking proceeds until the historically stronger fall months. The seasonal calendar is rarely a good investment thesis on its own. Applied to Intel (NASDAQ: INTC | INTC Price Prediction), however, it offers a convenient excuse to confront a more important question: what do you do with a stock that has gone parabolic?

Intel stock closed Tuesday at $120.61, up 11.5% in a week, 93.4% in a month, 226.9% year to date, and 443.8% over the past year. The 52-week range stretches from $18.96 to $132.75, with the stock now trading well above its 50-day moving average of $60.52 and 200-day average of $49.30.

The Trim Case

The fundamentals support a rerating, just not necessarily at this pace. Q1 2026 revenue came in at $13.577 billion, beating estimates by 9.22%, with non-GAAP EPS of $0.29 versus a $0.01 consensus (consensus of $0.0127). Data Center and AI grew 22% YoY; Intel Foundry grew 16%. But GAAP results showed a $3.728 billion net loss on a $4.07 billion restructuring charge, free cash flow was negative $3.867 billion, and Q2 non-GAAP EPS is guided to $0.20, a sequential step down.

Valuation has stretched. Forward earnings sit near 156x, and the analyst consensus target is $84.43, implying 30.0% downside. Of 48 covering analysts, 30 carry Hold ratings.

Crowd behavior is also flashing late-cycle. Reddit sentiment hit very-bullish readings of 91 to 95 on May 4 and 5, then compressed to a neutral 40 by May 13. One widely circulated post titled “Intel trading at a ~119x forward P/E and nobody is talking about this” drew 672 upvotes. On May 1, Chief Legal Officer April Miller Boise sold 40,256 shares at $99.53.

The Counter Case

CEO Lip-Bu Tan flagged a “sixth consecutive quarter of revenue above our expectations” and argued the agentic AI shift is “significantly increasing the need for Intel’s CPUs and wafer and advanced packaging offerings.” Cash and equivalents climbed 92.77% year over year to $17.247 billion, and insider activity overall net to buying across 57 recent transactions. Selling a multibagger too early is its own form of regret.

How to Play It

Trim ladders: Scale out in tranches on each incremental gain, not in one binary decision.
Cost-basis recovery: Sell enough to retire original capital and let house money ride.
Trailing stops: Anchor a stop beneath the most recent consolidation base.
Covered calls: Post-rally implied volatility makes premiums richer than usual.
Tax-aware sequencing: Trim inside tax-advantaged accounts first.

Intel’s business turnaround under Tan looks genuine. That does not mean shares need to travel 443.8% in a straight line. The honest framing here is one of risk management after a once-in-a-decade rerating. The calendar is just the excuse.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.