BIRD, INTC, MRVL Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs Today: What’s Driving The Rally?

• BIRD announced a surprise pivot toward GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud infrastructure, marking a dramatic shift from its legacy footwear business.
• Susquehanna raised Intel’s price target to $65 from $45, citing stronger server CPU demand and expectations for in-line to slightly better Q1 results ahead of earnings next week.
• MRVL gained for a sixth straight session as Wall Street highlighted strong growth in data-center AI networking and ASIC demand.

Shares of Allbirds (BIRD), Intel (INTC) and Marvell Technology (MRVL) each hit fresh 52-week highs on Wednesday as investors piled into stocks related to AI infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing and data-center networking.

On Wednesday, BIRD surged nearly 600%, while INTC rose 2% and MRVL gained 1%, marking the AI silicon company’s sixth straight session of gains.

BIRD Surges On Surprise AI Pivot

BIRD stock rocketed to its best day ever on Wednesday after the footwear maker unveiled plans to pivot toward AI infrastructure just days before it had been expected to wind down operations.

The company said it plans to raise up to $50 million through a convertible financing facility to support a strategy focused on building GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions. The move came shortly after Allbirds had agreed to sell its assets and intellectual property to American Exchange Group for $39 million and outlined plans to reposition itself as NewBird AI.

After the pivot, William Blair dropped coverage of the stock and called the strategy a “Hail Mary,” citing “deep uncertainty” around the company’s move into cloud-compute infrastructure despite the surge. The brokerage said the rally reflected the company’s  "very shallow float, automated momentum, and unchecked hype." 

INTC Rally Gains Steam On Turnaround Momentum

INTC shares extended a powerful run, rising in 10 of the past 11 trading sessions as investors cheered signs that the company’s manufacturing turnaround strategy is gaining traction.

Momentum strengthened earlier this month after Intel agreed to pay $14.2 billion to buy back half of its Fab 34 facility in Ireland from Apollo Global Management. Sentiment also improved after Intel said it would participate in Elon Musk’s Terafab semiconductor initiative involving Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, alongside news that Alphabet’s Google plans to deploy future generations of Intel’s Xeon processors across its data-center infrastructure.

Separately, Susquehanna raised its price target on Intel to $65 from $45 on Tuesday, while maintaining a ‘Neutral’ rating. The firm cited stronger server CPU demand and expectations for in-line-to-slightly-better results ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings report next week.

AI Infrastructure Tailwinds Support MRVL Stock

MRVL shares gained traction as analysts highlighted growth driven by data-center networking and demand for custom AI silicon. On Wednesday, Oppenheimer raised its price target on Marvell to $170 from $150 and maintained an ‘Outperform’ rating after hosting an investor meeting with the company, calling the tone of discussions “unequivocally bullish.” The brokerage pointed to accelerating growth led by data-center AI (DCAI) networking and ASIC programs. They added that Marvell’s share remains stable and increasing across its core networking markets.

Meanwhile, B. Riley Securities raised its price target on the stock earlier this week to $156 from $135 and kept a ‘Buy’ rating, citing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s March tech supply-chain sales update, which the firm said provided “lateral benefits” to Marvell.

Momentum around the stock has also been supported by Nvidia’s $2 billion investment in Marvell and collaboration on silicon photonics and next-generation connectivity technologies to accelerate large-scale AI infrastructure workloads.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About BIRD, INTC, MRVL?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for BIRD and INTC was ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘high’ to ‘extremely high’ message volume, while sentiment toward MRVL remained ‘bullish’ with ‘high’ message volume.

A recent Stocktwits poll echoed the optimism for AI stocks, with about 62% of respondents saying they are most interested in deploying capital into tech sectors such as AI, semiconductors, software, and cloud infrastructure, compared with 15% each for healthcare and energy and 8% for financials. 

So far this year, BIRD has surged 314%, while INTC and MRVL have gained 76% and 59%, respectively.

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