This analyst just doubled his price target on Intel

Roth Capital analyst Suji Desilva upgraded Intel  (Intel Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials NASDAQ:INTC) to “Buy” from his previous “Neutral” rating and raised his target to $100.00 from $50.00 following stronger-than-expected first-quarter 2026 results and improving AI infrastructure visibility.

“We are impressed with the improved execution under CEO Lip Bu Tan, who has driven changes at INTC to better participate in the rapid AI Infrastructure growth,” Desilva said in his April 24 earnings analysis. “He has rapidly improved manufacturing efficiency and CPU products, to take advantage of the tailwinds of agentic AI.”

Intel reported first-quarter revenue of $13.6-billion, up seven per cent year-over-year and ahead of the $12.4-billion consensus. EPS was $0.29, well above the $0.02 consensus, helped by stronger revenue and margins.

Desilva said the upside was driven by AI data centre CPU demand, with the DCAI segment growing 6.6% sequentially. Client Computing Group revenue fell 1.2% quarter-over-quarter but was better than normal seasonal patterns, while Intel Foundry revenue rose 20.3% on large customer packaging programs.

Intel’s gross margin improved to 41%, up 310 basis points sequentially, helped by higher revenue and sales of older previously written-off parts into a strong demand environment.

For the second quarter, Intel guided revenue of $13.8-billion to $14.8-billion, implying sequential growth after the first-quarter beat. Desilva said Intel is benefiting as AI infrastructure demand shifts beyond GPU-heavy training builds toward systems that require more server CPUs.

“We are encouraged by foundry progress in advanced packaging and interest in INTC products from large customers for multi-year agreement opportunities,” Desilva said.

Desilva said Intel’s visibility is improving through larger forward agreements with data centre processor customers and foundry advanced-packaging supply agreements. He said margin recovery should be paced by better yields on the Intel 18A process, with longer-term upside possible as shipments rise in a supply-constrained environment.

Desilva said the higher target reflects Intel’s improved participation in AI infrastructure growth and brings its valuation closer to peers including AMD, Marvell, Credo and Astera Labs.

-30-