Intel Stock Faces Friday Test After 20%-Plus After-Hours Plunge as Analysts Cut Price Targets

Intel heads into Friday’s trading session with Wall Street already marking down expectations. After the chipmaker’s weak fourth-quarter forecast sent its shares sharply lower in extended trading Thursday, at least two brokerages cut their price targets overnight, and the selling spilled into PC makers and other chip stocks.

This article is for information only and is not financial advice.

Where does Intel stock stand before Friday’s open?

Intel closed Thursday’s regular session at $92.07, according to GuruFocus. The after-hours drop was steep, though reports put it at different levels as extended trading moved: Reuters reported a 23% plunge shortly after the release and later cited an 18% decline, while CNBC put the drop at about 21%.

Reuters calculated that if a 23% loss carried into Friday’s regular session, Intel would shed more than $112 billion in market value. After-hours prices are thinly traded and can shift, so Friday’s open and close will show how much of the drop sticks.

For the quarter itself, the numbers were solid. Our earlier coverage has the full breakdown, but the short version: adjusted earnings of 52 cents a share beat the 40-cent estimate, and revenue rose 21% to $16.51 billion. The problem was the outlook.

Which analysts cut Intel price targets?

According to GuruFocus, two firms lowered their targets on Oct. 30:

The CNBC Investing Club, which holds Intel in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust, cut its own price target to $100 and put its rating under review. It said analysts “will need to revise estimates downward for several quarters, as weakness in the consumer electronics market will persist well into 2027,” while adding that it was “not joining the sell-off just yet.”

Why did Intel’s outlook spook investors?

Intel guided fourth-quarter revenue to $15 billion to $16 billion, below the LSEG average estimate of $17.07 billion, and adjusted earnings to 25 cents a share versus 43 cents expected, Reuters reported. Three pressures stood out:

• PC slowdown: Intel expects PC chip revenue to fall in the mid-20% range in the fourth quarter. Weak demand could last through the first half of 2027, the company warned. “In recent weeks, our customers began signaling a PC slowdown based on the memory prices and availability,” CEO Lip-Bu Tan said, per CNBC.
• Israel factory explosion: The deadly October blast at Intel’s Kiryat Gat plant will erase roughly $600 million in revenue over two quarters, Intel told Reuters. CFO David Zinsner said production was set to ramp back up by the end of this week after a two-week shutdown.
• Cash burn: Zinsner said Intel does not expect positive cash flow this year and that capital spending will rise sharply in 2027.

How did other stocks react to Intel?

The fallout spread. Reuters reported that PC makers HP and Dell sank 8% and 6.8% after hours, AMD dropped 4% and Broadcom fell 2%. A leveraged semiconductor ETF that tracks three times the daily move of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was off 9%.

Some analysts told Reuters that Intel’s PC troubles don’t necessarily signal big problems for chipmakers more focused on AI, but investors in the thin post-market session chose “to shoot first and ask questions later.”

“I think we entered earnings season with the market in a pessimistic mood. No result is good enough, and bad results receive extra punishment,” Seaport Research Partners analyst Jay Goldberg told Reuters.

Is there any good news for INTC?

Some. CNBC noted Intel’s data center and AI segment posted its strongest growth in 15 years, and cash flow came in better than the Street expected. Zinsner said costs for Intel’s 18A manufacturing process have fallen 40% since the first quarter, which should help margins over time, Reuters reported. Intel also estimates agentic AI workloads could grow the server CPU market from $40 billion today to as much as $200 billion over five years, according to CNBC.

Jake Dollarhide of Longbow Asset Management offered a different read to Reuters on the stock’s huge 2026 run: “It just had this miraculous rise, and you got a lot of retail money into it, and some of that money is easy come, easy go.”

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Earlier coverage: Intel Stock Plunges After Hours on Weak Outlook, PC Slowdown and Israel Fab Blast (Oct 29)