INTC Stock Hits Dot-Com Era High After 78% Rally This Year — Analysts Turn Bullish Ahead Of Intel's Q1 Earnings This Week

• BNP Paribas analysts stated that stronger data points for Intel’s 14A node have raised their expectations for the success potential of the company’s next-generation technology, scheduled to enter production in 2027.
• The firm also stated that the boom in AI agentic demand is driving stronger demand for Intel’s server chips.
• Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target for Intel to $65 from $60 while keeping a ‘Neutral’ rating on the stock.

Wall Street has turned bullish on Intel Corp. (INTC) as the chipmaker gears up for its first-quarter (Q1) earnings, with the company’s shares rising to their highest levels since the dot-com era last week before pulling back slightly.

According to TheFly, analysts at BNP Paribas upgraded Intel to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underperform’ with a price target of $60. The firm’s ratings upgrade for Intel follows a slew of price target hikes from other analysts.

Intel shares were up over 2% in Tuesday’s pre-market trade.

Why Are Analysts Turning Bullish On Intel?

BNP Paribas analysts stated that stronger data points for Intel’s 14A node have raised their expectations for the success potential of the company’s next-generation technology, scheduled to enter production in 2027.

The firm also stated that the boom in AI agentic demand is driving stronger demand for Intel’s server chips.

Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target for Intel to $65 from $60 while keeping a ‘Neutral’ rating on the stock. The firm stated that even though shipments of personal computers are expected to decline in 2026, it sees Intel’s product revenue growing on the back of strong pricing tailwinds, especially in the server CPU segment.

Cantor Fitzgerald also sees improving supply dynamics over the course of 2026 as another tailwind for Intel.

Stifel also raised its price target for Intel, noting that compute demand for both general-purpose and accelerated computing is running materially ahead of its prior forecasts. The firm noted that Intel’s processor portfolio spans distinctly different points on the AI infrastructure adoption curve.

Stifel hiked its price target for Intel to $65 from $42, while keeping a ‘Hold’ rating on the stock.

Last week, Bernstein analysts raised their price target on Intel to $60 from $36 while maintaining a ‘Market Perform’ rating. The firm stated that it has hiked its assumptions for Intel’s server business and raised its gross margin estimates.

Analysts at Susquehanna expect Intel to report in-line to slightly better Q1 results powered by strong demand for the company’s processors. The firm hiked its price target for INTC stock to $65 from $45, while keeping a ‘Neutral’ rating.

Earlier this month, Intel announced a $14.2 billion deal to acquire Apollo Global Management’s 49% stake in the Fab 34 facility in Ireland as it looks to fuel its AI ambitions.

The company also teamed up with Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc. (TSLA) and SpaceX to become a partner in the Terafab project. The company will help in designing, manufacturing and packaging chips as part of the project.

Wall Street’s Expectations From Intel’s Q1 Earnings

According to data from Fiscal.ai, Intel is expected to report earnings per share (EPS) of $0.01 on revenue of $12.36 billion.

The company reported EPS of $0.13 on revenue of $12.7 billion during the same period a year ago.

Intel is scheduled to report its Q1 earnings after the bell on Thursday, April 23.

How Did Retail Traders React?

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around Intel trended in the ‘bullish’ territory, with message volumes at ‘high’ levels at the time of writing.

One bullish user expects the Intel stock to hit $100 post earnings.

Another user stated that Intel kept its forecast low and that the chip shortage should help the company exceed it easily.

INTC stock is up 78% year-to-date and 247% over the past 12 months. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is up 35% over the past 12 months, while the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) is up 46%.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) are up 35% during this period.

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