The Intel logo is displayed outside of the Intel headquarters
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Intel
was downgraded by analysts at BMO Capital Partners who said they “fail to see a scenario where shares outperform.”
BMO lowered its rating on shares of the semiconductor maker to Market Perform from Outperform, and the target price to $52 from $60.
Shares of Intel (ticker: INTC) were rising slightly in premarket trading Tuesday to $49.43.
Analyst Ambrish Srivastava said he expected Intel to “turn the ship around” under new CEO Patrick Gelsinger, addressing “years of poor execution on the process technology/manufacturing front” that would help the company regain market share from competitor Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
But that changed after Intel announced higher spending in the short term, with capital expenditures expected to be between $25 billion to $28 billion next year alone. Sravistava also struggled accepting the company’s projected compound annual growth rate of 10% to 12% over the next four to five years.
Intel has grown at a five-year rate of 6%, and a 10-year rate of 4%, growing at a double-digit topline once over the last 10 years, according to BMO.
“We see meaningfully depressed FCF and see a long time for earnings to recover,” Srivastava wrote in a research note on Tuesday. “First, we do not see Intel being able to grow its top-line at a CAGR of double-digits. Second, we see Intel barely being able to cover its dividend commitments given the depressed FCF over the next two years.”
This is Intel’s latest downgrade after the chipmaker’s third-quarter results last week. The company topped earnings estimates but fell short on revenue.
Last week, Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakash said Intel was “losing focus” and downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy and cut his price target to $55 from $70, MarketWatch reported.
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore downgraded Intel to Equal-weight from Overweight and cut his price target to $55 from $67, citing increased fixed costs.
Intel reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.71 a share and adjusted revenue of $18.1 billion. Analysts were expecting $1.11 a share on revenue of $18.2 billion, according to FactSet. Revenue in the PC-focused client computing group fell 2% year over year to $9.7 billion.
Write to Sabrina Escobar at [email protected]
