PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Intel

Benzinga's PreMarket Prep airs every morning from 8-9 a.m. ET. During that fast-paced, highly informative hour, traders and investors tune in to get the major news of the day, the catalysts behind those moves and the corresponding price action for the upcoming session.

On any given day, the show will cover at least 20 stocks determined by co-hosts Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick along with producer Spencer Israel.

PreMarket Prep has a variety of knowledgeable guests. It's not often the content covered during the interview relates to an event that happens by the end of the broadcast. With that being said, Intel INTC is the PreMarket Prep Stock Of The day.

The Guest: On Wednesday’s show, our guest was Colby Howard, who is President of Paragon Intel. The company specializes in analyzing the humans that run the worlds most important companies which will assist stakeholders in determining the future performance of the company

During his time in Citi’s Equity Capital Markets group, he worked with investment managers to place IPOs, follow-ons, and convertible issuances. Immediately prior to joining Paragon, Colby consulted for startups in the operations, sales, and product development capacities while pursuing the development and creative sides of the entertainment industry.

The interview can found here:

Change In The C-Suite: After the interview concluded and before the show ended, Intel announced its current CEO, Bob Swan, was being replaced and the Board of Directors appointed 40-year technology industry leader Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of VMWare Inc. VMW for the past decade, as its new CEO, effective Feb. 15.

With Intel being one of the most underperforming companies in the technology sector over the last 20 years, the change in CEO attracted nothing but buyers during the premarket session.
The fast and furious price was detailed by the hosts of the show. Dennis Dick, who recently has taken a stake in the issue, welcomed the news.

"I got my selling shoes on here now, where is it trading?" he asked. "If it gets to get to $60, I am getting out."

PreMarket And Regular Session Price Action: The buying rampage didn't end until it peaked at $60.89 at 9:15 a.m. ET and reversed course. That marks the highest level for the issue since it peaked at $61.74 on July 23. It should be noted the issue swooned to $50.59 the following day when the Street showed its disapproval of its second-quarter earnings report.

After a higher open, the issue crept into the $60 handle but found sellers ahead of the premarket high, only reaching $60.25, and reversed course. It repelled off that high and has continued to make new lows for the session. As of 1:30 p.m., the current one stands at $56.92 and now Intel is attempting to remain in the $57 handle.

Conclusion: At first, the Street showed its approval, taking the issue to levels not thought possible under normal circumstances. However, others are waiting to see if the beleaguered company can be immediately turned around by a new CEO and are willing to exit the issue into this unusual price appreciation.

Join us next month when we will bring Colby Howard back on the show to give his long-term assessment of the change in management.

Disclosure: Dennis Dick did not exit the issue at $60 and is still long the issue. Tune into Thursday’s show, when he complains about not exiting the issue at $60.