INTC Stock Soars Past Its 2000’s Record Closing Price After Q2 Earnings Guidance Roars Past Wall Street Estimates

• CEO Lip-Bu Tan said he’s “laser-focused” on increasing factory output.
• INTC Q1 revenue and earnings beat analyst expectations.
• INTC expects Q2 earnings at $0.20 per share compared to estimates of $0.09 per share. 

Intel (INTC) share price rallied more than 19% after-hours after the chipmaker’s Q2 revenue and earnings guidance soared past analyst expectations, signaling the firm’s AI investments are beginning to pay off. 

INTC crossed $80 per share in after-hours trading on Thursday, breaching its all-time closing high of $74.88, established on Aug. 31, 2000.

Intel expects Q2 revenue to be between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion, blowing past analysts' expectations of $13 billion, according to data compiled by fiscal.ai. Earnings are expected at $0.20 cents a share, compared with a prediction of $0.09 cents.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Intel delivered a “solid result” that was ahead of its projections. He expects strong demand for processors used in AI systems to continue and said the company is “laser-focused” on increasing output from Intel’s factories, which still can’t meet all its orders. 

“There is huge demand,” Tan said. “We are working very hard with our team to make sure we deliver, that we meet that demand but we are still short because the demand keeps increasing from the customers.”

The comments come against the backdrop that several chipmakers are reeling under pressure from soaring demand, while supply constraints and geopolitical factors are driving costs higher. 

Intel’s Q1 Performance

For the current quarter (Q1) ending March 2026, Intel’s revenue rose 7% to $13.6 billion and earnings of 29 cents a share, beating expectations. Analysts, on average, had estimated revenue of $12.4 billion and earnings of $0.01, according to data compiled by Fiscal.ai.

However, Intel's full-year 2025 revenue was still 49.5% below its 2021 peak.

Intel Foundry Business Performance And Updates

Revenue for Intel’s foundry business - which operates as an independent contract chip manufacturer - rose 16% year-on-year to $5.4 billion, also beating Wall St expectations. 

Foundry expanded assembly and test capacity in Penang, Malaysia, to support customer products amid rising global demand for packaging solutions while increasing global semiconductor supply chain resilience.

Intel mentioned progress in its 18A and 14A processes is ahead of expectations. Both are Intel’s manufacturing blueprints for making extremely tiny semiconductor chips.

What Do Analysts Say?

33 of 47 analysts rate the stock ‘hold’, nine rate the stock ‘buy’, and five rate it ‘sell’.

HSBC upgraded INTC to ‘Buy’ on Tuesday, from ‘Hold,’ with a price target of $95, up from $50. “While foundry deals have driven a 60% rally in the shares, Intel's "significant" server processor momentum is not priced into the stock,” HSBC wrote in a research note. 

BNP Paribas also upgraded Intel, but to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Underperform’ with a $60 price target.

Retail View

One Stocktwits user noted that Intel is a key player in the semiconductor industry.

Another user highlighted that the earnings presentation and calls had no “risk words.”

The stock has gained 81% year-to-date. 

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