For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – July 21, 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Intel Corp. INTC, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL and Apple, Inc. AAPL.
Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:
Add Intel to Your Portfolio Ahead of Earnings?
Intel Corp. is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 earnings after the closing bell on July 23. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales and earnings is pegged at $14.42 billion and 21 cents per share, respectively. Over the past 60 days, estimates for INTC have increased 1.9% to $1.07 per share for 2026, while it has increased 4.17% to $1.50 for 2027.
Earnings Surprise History
The leading semiconductor manufacturer delivered a stellar four-quarter earnings surprise of 996.88%, on average, beating estimates thrice. In the last reported quarter, the company's earnings surprise was 2800.00%.
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model predicts a likely earnings beat for Intel for the second quarter. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. This is exactly the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Intel currently has an ESP of +5.18% and sports a Zacks Rank #1.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Factors Shaping the Quarterly Performance
During the quarter, Intel continued to strengthen its AI and data center portfolio through several product launches. The company introduced Intel Xeon 6 Plus processors, built on its advanced 18A process technology. It features up to 288 Efficient-cores, 12-channel DDR5 memory and 96 PCIe Gen 5 lanes. Intel also expanded its 800 Series Ethernet portfolio with E835 controllers and network adapters.
In the to be reported quarter, Intel broadened its client computing portfolio with the launch of the Intel Arc G-Series processors for handheld gaming devices. Intel also partnered with Acer, MSI and OneXPlayer to bring these processors to next-generation handheld gaming systems. These initiatives are likely to strengthen Intel's presence in the growing portable gaming market.
The company entered a multi-year collaboration with Alphabet Inc.. Per the deal, Alphabet aims to deploy Intel Xeon 6 CPUs to power Google Cloud's data centers. Moreover, Google and Intel are also working together to develop custom Application-specific integrated circuit or ASIC-based Infrastructure Processing Units. The solution is engineered to support networking, storage and security tasks of the CPU and boost system efficiency.
In the quarter under review, Apple, Inc. held preliminary discussions with Intel regarding potential U.S.-based chip manufacturing. Intel to develop chips to power some Apple devices. Apple's interest is viewed as validation of Intel's improving foundry capabilities. Such innovative product launches and growing collaboration with industry leaders are expected to have a positive impact on upcoming quarters.
Price Performance
Over the past year, Intel has surged 308.6% compared with the industry's growth of 24.6%, outperforming its peers, QCOM and AMD. While Qualcomm has gained 8%, AMD has soared 215.7% over this period.
Key Valuation Metric
From a valuation standpoint, Intel appears to be relatively cheaper than the industry but above its mean. Going by the price/sales ratio, the company's shares currently trade at 7.67 forward sales, lower than 9.52 for the industry but higher than the stock's mean of 3.96.
Investment Consideration
AI workloads are increasingly moving from training toward inference, agentic AI, robotics, physical AI and edge deployments. Amid this, CPUs play a crucial role in coordinating accelerators, networking, memory, and data movement. Management has emphasized that AI-driven CPU demand is becoming Intel's biggest growth engine.
The company's custom Application-Specific Integrated Circuit business is growing, backed by increasing high networking demand in the AI buildouts. The company is gaining solid traction in the hyperscalers. Per a report from Grand View Research, the AI infrastructure market was valued at $223.45 billion in 2024 and is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate of 30.4% by 2030. Intel, with its robust portfolio, is expected to gain from this market trend.
Intel is actively collaborating with major industry leaders to drive AI-related innovation. It collaborates with ChatGPT to launch a Hybrid AI PC Edition, marking a strategic move toward on-device intelligence. It has expanded its collaboration with Google to advance AI infrastructure. It has been collaborating with Nokia and Dell to drive 5G Edge innovations. Such initiatives are expected to boost Intel's competitive edge across several domains against its major rivals, such as AMD and Qualcomm.
End Note
Strategic collaboration with industry leaders, several customer wins and expansion of AI infrastructure portfolio are major growth catalysts for the company. The company has been undertaking cost control measures and organizational simplifications to boost profitability and improve cash flow generation. Commercial PC refresh cycles and increasing AI PC adoption have created a solid growth opportunity. Upward estimate revision shows growing investors' confidence in the stock's growth potential. With a strong price performance, attractive valuation and a Zacks Rank #1, Intel appears to be a good investment option at the moment.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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