- Intel’s market cap has stagnated for 30 years, but deep value exists due to its core CPU segment and potential for a turnaround.
- The CPU market remains profitable with limited competition, and any improvement in Intel’s other businesses could create significant value.
- Whether the M&A happens or not, this could have strategic changes or management shake-ups at Intel that benefit shareholders.
- Despite risks, I consider Intel a speculative buy for a small portion of my portfolio, given its current undervaluation and potential upside.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)(NEOE:INTC:CA) was recently rumored to be an acquisition target. Is this rumor worth buying? Let’s assess from an investor’s perspective.
Financial Overview from 1996 to 2025
Intel’s story, from an investor’s perspective, has not been one of success in the past 30 years, as its market cap as of January 17, 2025 market close of $92.7 billion is on par with levels in 1996. 30 years of no sustainable market cap growth is not what one would have expected from one of the leaders of the PC revolution (of course, if you take into account dividends, this might slightly move the needle but not significantly). In fact, when I saw INTC’s track record, it led me to wonder in a separate article if NVDA’s GPUs (which are currently all the craze) may eventually suffer the same fate as INTC’s CPUs.
If we take a look at more recent years, INTC’s stock price did make a modest attempt at gaining during the COVID pandemic “Everything Bubble” years, with its market cap nearly reaching $300 billion in 2021, before declining nearly 70% since then to multi-decade lows as financial performance worsened post pandemic (see below section).
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