What to Watch When Intel Reports After the Close

Intel is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter financial results after the markets close on Thursday, and analysts anticipate that earnings will have slipped year over year.

Published January 23, 2020, 12:40pm ET · 2 min read

A large, bright blue Intel logo with a distinctive arched 'i' and modern sans-serif font is positioned in the foreground. Behind it stands a contemporary building with a facade of dark blue reflective glass windows and white architectural elements, reflecting the sky.
The distinctive blue Intel logo stands prominently, symbolizing the company's renewed strategic focus and recent endorsements from leading technology firms. © Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC | INTC Price Prediction) is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter financial results after the markets close on Thursday. The consensus estimates are calling for $1.25 in earnings per share (EPS) and $19.23 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the chip giant said it had $1.28 in EPS and $18.66 billion in revenue.

Earlier in December, Merrill Lynch named Intel as one of its top preliminary picks for 2020. The firm gave five key reasons that it was going to be the top-performing major tech stock of 2020. One of those included having more upside than even AMD, but there were even more reasons cited for upside. Intel’s price objective was raised to $70 in the call, and that implied upside of over 24% (before the dividend).

The brokerage firm noted that Intel has a healthy free cash flow, dividend yield and a high-ranked ESG (environmental, social and governance) score. Intel is also underweight by large-cap active funds.

Excluding Thursday’s move, Intel stock had outperformed the broad markets with a gain of about 30% in the past 52 weeks. In the past quarter, the shares were up 20%.

Here’s what analysts had to say about Intel ahead of the report:

  • Susquehanna has a Buy rating.
  • Cascend Securities has a Buy rating and a $75 price target.
  • Cowen rates it as Market Perform with a $55 price target.
  • Jefferies has a Hold rating with a $64 target price.
  • Citigroup’s Neutral rating comes with a $60 price target.
  • Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and a $66 target.

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Shares of Intel were trading about 1% to $63.33 on Thursday, in a 52-week range of $42.86 to $63.53. The consensus price target is $58.28.

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Chris Lange

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics. Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications. A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

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