Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland ended his bearish view on Intel Corp. shares. on Thursday, writing that “things are moving in enough direction” for the struggling chipmaker.
He upgraded the stock to neutral from negative Thursday as part of a broader reassessment of the chip landscape.
“In April 2021, we declared the top of the semiconductor cycle, driven by the combination of sky-high valuation multiples and record lead times that often result in ‘bad behavior’ including inventory builds, safety stock builds and double orders. he wrote. “Today, however, we are calling for the end of that cycle. Well…at least for consumer, PC and handset-related names, as we believe the acute portion of the contraction is over, inventories are normalizing, and demand soon.” increases.”
on Intel INTC,
+3.36%
In particular, he noted that the company has made improvements in some of the trouble areas it had when it switched to its bearish stance last year, although other concerns remain.
Shares rose 0.5% in premarket trading on Thursday.
“While most of our key concerns remain, three of those concerns have diminished or subsided,” he wrote.
Notably, “AMD is no longer gaining a PC share,” continued Rolland. “Intel is much more competitive today, both Alder Lake and Raptor Lake are benchmarks and are selling well.”
He added that he’s spoken to experts who say Intel holds “the price/performance crown” in the current PC market, suggesting the company may or may not have a stake in that market this year will win.
In addition, Rolland stressed that Intel’s management team appears to be doing better.
“While Intel’s problems at 10nm were well known, the latest roadmap push was Sapphire Rapids,” he wrote. “Our controls did not identify any new pain points and delayed products. No news is good news here.”
Though Rolland feared a “hangover” in the PC market last year because of the end of the work-from-home boom, he says momentum has “largely died out.”
However, Rolland declined to be positive on Intel’s stock, writing that “major issues” remain for the company, including a soft guidance for the company’s data center.
He transitioned to a bullish stance on Qualcomm Inc. QCOM stocks,
+1.36%
and Skyworks Solutions Inc. SWKS,
+1.15%,
Upgrade both from neutral to positive. Rolland likes Qualcomm’s positioning as China pushes to reopen and smartphone trends there are improving, and he thinks Skyworks could also benefit from the reopening.
Intel’s stock gets an upgrade: “Things are moving in the right direction enough.”
Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland ended his bearish view on Intel Corp. shares. on Thursday, writing that “things are moving in enough direction” for the struggling chipmaker.
He upgraded the stock to neutral from negative Thursday as part of a broader reassessment of the chip landscape.
“In April 2021, we declared the top of the semiconductor cycle, driven by the combination of sky-high valuation multiples and record lead times that often result in ‘bad behavior’ including inventory builds, safety stock builds and double orders. he wrote. “Today, however, we are calling for the end of that cycle. Well…at least for consumer, PC and handset-related names, as we believe the acute portion of the contraction is over, inventories are normalizing, and demand soon.” increases.”
on Intel INTC,
+3.36%
In particular, he noted that the company has made improvements in some of the trouble areas it had when it switched to its bearish stance last year, although other concerns remain.
Shares rose 0.5% in premarket trading on Thursday.
“While most of our key concerns remain, three of those concerns have diminished or subsided,” he wrote.
Notably, “AMD is no longer gaining a PC share,” continued Rolland. “Intel is much more competitive today, both Alder Lake and Raptor Lake are benchmarks and are selling well.”
He added that he’s spoken to experts who say Intel holds “the price/performance crown” in the current PC market, suggesting the company may or may not have a stake in that market this year will win.
In addition, Rolland stressed that Intel’s management team appears to be doing better.
“While Intel’s problems at 10nm were well known, the latest roadmap push was Sapphire Rapids,” he wrote. “Our controls did not identify any new pain points and delayed products. No news is good news here.”
Though Rolland feared a “hangover” in the PC market last year because of the end of the work-from-home boom, he says momentum has “largely died out.”
However, Rolland declined to be positive on Intel’s stock, writing that “major issues” remain for the company, including a soft guidance for the company’s data center.
He transitioned to a bullish stance on Qualcomm Inc. QCOM stocks,
+1.36%
+1.15% ,
and Skyworks Solutions Inc. SWKS,
Upgrade both from neutral to positive. Rolland likes Qualcomm’s positioning as China pushes to reopen and smartphone trends there are improving, and he thinks Skyworks could also benefit from the reopening.
Source : www.marketwatch.com