Intel Shares Are Climbing Higher Thursday: What's Going On?

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shares are trading higher Friday after the company reported third quarter earnings per share and sales above expectations.

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What To Know: Intel reported adjusted earnings of 23 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate of 1 cent. Revenue came in at $13.65 billion, above the expected $13.13 billion.

The Client Computing Group generated $8.5 billion in revenue, up 5% year-over-year, offsetting a 1% decline in Data Center and AI segment sales to $4.1 billion. Total Intel Products revenue rose 3% to $12.7 billion.

Gross margin expanded to 40% on a non-GAAP basis, up 22 percentage points from a year ago, while operating margin improved 29 points to 11.2%.

CEO Lip-Bu Tan said AI is accelerating demand for compute and creating "attractive opportunities across our portfolio." The company also announced $8.9 billion in U.S. government funding and new investments from NVIDIA and SoftBank totaling $7 billion to strengthen its semiconductor operations.

Q4 Outlook: The company sees adjusted earnings per share of 8 cents, versus the consensus estimate of 8 cents. Furthermore, Intel expects sales between $12.80 billion and $13.80 billion, versus the consensus estimate of $13.37 billion.

Analyst Changes: Following the earnings report, multiple analysts issued price target adjustments.

• Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh maintained a Neutral rating on Intel and raised the price target from $39 to $41.
• Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore maintained an Equal-Weight rating on Intel and raised the price target from $36 to $38.
• Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson maintained a Neutral rating on Intel and raised the price target from $20 to $30.
• JP Morgan analyst Harlan Sur maintained an Underweight rating on Intel and raised the price target from $21 to $30.
• Rosenblatt analyst Kevin Cassidy maintained a Sell rating on Intel and raised the price target from $14 to $25.

Related Link: Supermicro Taps New AMD Chips For Its Next-Gen Data Center Push

INTC Price Action: At the time of writing, Intel shares are trading 1.35% higher at $38.67, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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