As a New CPU Surge Takes Wall Street, Tiger Global Just Took a New Stake in Intel Stock

On the valuation front, the market is pricing in a lot of ambition as INTC stock is trading at 100.16 times forward adjusted earnings and 9.33 times sales. This puts it well above both industry benchmarks and their own five-year average multiples.

Intel Surpasses Q1 Earnings

On April 23, Intel delivered Q1 FY2026 results that sailed past Wall Street expectations, giving fresh life to the once struggling chipmaker. The stock gained 2.3% that day before exploding another 23.6% during the following trading session.

Revenue grew 7.2% year-over-year (YOY) to $13.58 billion, comfortably outpacing the Street’s estimate of $12.42 billion. Intel has now beaten its own revenue expectations for six quarters running. Adjusted EPS climbed 123.1% YOY to $0.29, leaving the Street’s forecast of $0.01 far behind.

The firm’s data center business led the charge, where AI traction is finally building on the back of surging demand for CPU. That division posted $5.1 billion in revenue, good for 22% growth.

The same wave of CPU demand also fueled Intel’s $14 billion acquisition of a 49% stake in its Ireland chip fabrication facility, which the company had previously sold to Apollo Global Management (APOS).

Intel’s recent partnerships also signal that the CPU revival carries real weight. The company expanded its collaboration with Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) in Q1 through continued Xeon deployment across Google Cloud along with joint development of custom AI infrastructure processors. And, Intel secured a major win after Nvidia selected Intel Xeon 6 as the host CPU for Nvidia’s DGX Rubin NVL8 systems.

Intel’s foundry business delivered strong numbers, with its revenue climbing 16% YOY to $5.4 billion, although much of that operation still revolves around manufacturing Intel’s own chips. The Client Computing Group, which handles personal computer chips, generated $7.7 billion in revenue after posting 1% growth.

Looking ahead, Intel expects Q2 revenue between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion along with adjusted EPS of $0.20. Analysts, meanwhile, expect Q2 EPS to surge 138.5% YOY to $0.10. FY2026 bottom line could jump 625% from the prior year’s quarter to $0.63. Analysts also forecast FY2027 EPS to rise another 54% YOY to $0.97.

What Do Analysts Expect for Intel Stock?

Wall Street still refuses to put all its chips on the table, giving INTC stock an overall “Hold” rating for now. Among 44 analysts covering the company, nine rate the shares a “Strong Buy,” one assigns a “Moderate Buy,” 31 stick with “Hold,” one calls for a “Moderate Sell,” and two wave the “Strong Sell” flag.

Interestingly, Intel stock already trades above the average analyst price target of $82.70, signaling that much of the near-term optimism may already sit baked into the share price.

Even so, Mizuho’s Street-High target of $124 still leaves room for potential upside of 16.8% current levels. The firm raised its target from $100 while maintaining a “Neutral” rating on the stock.

On the date of publication, Aanchal Sugandh did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com