Intel shares rebound on Monday, Nomura Instinet raises rating on the stock to “Buy”

Nomura Instinet was reported to have revised up its rating on Intel Corporation (INTC) to “Buy” from “Neutral” on Monday, as it said Intel might be the only company in the semiconductor segment that would raise estimates in October and November. At the same time, the firm maintained its price target on the stock at $50 per share.

Intel shares closed higher for the third time in the past thirteen trading sessions on NASDAQ on Monday. The stock went up 2.30% ($1.01) to $45.01, after touching an intraday high at $45.33, or a price level not seen since October 18th ($45.75).

Shares of Intel Corporation have retreated 2.49% so far in 2018 compared with a 3.08% gain for the underlying index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, Intel’s stock surged 22.50%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

Intel has postponed the transition to 10nm chips, with the release schedule being pushed back to the second half of 2019. The tech giant has already fallen behind Samsung, which has begun manufacturing 10nm chips, such as the Snapdragon 835 intended to be used with mobile devices.

Regardless of the delays, Nomura expects Intel to initiate 10nm production ramp-up. “Every U.S. and foreign-based equipment supplier weve spoken with recently is seeing 10nm volumes become more meaningful,” Nomura analyst Romit Shah wrote in a client note, cited by CNBC.

The analyst also noted interim Chief Executive Bob Swan was giving higher priority to production of Intels Xeon and Core processors that “serve the high-performance segments,” which “bodes well for earnings and specifically gross margin”.

According to CNN Money, the 33 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Intel Corporation’s stock price, have a median target of $57.00, with a high estimate of $70.00 and a low estimate of $38.00. The median estimate represents a 26.64% upside compared to the closing price of $45.01 on October 22nd.

The same media also reported that 16 out of 40 surveyed investment analysts had rated Intel Corporation’s stock as “Buy”, while 15 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 5 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Intel Corporation (INTC) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $44.73
R1 – $45.60
R2 – $47.20
R3 – $48.07
R4 – $48.94

S1 – $43.13
S2 – $42.26
S3 – $40.66
S4 – $39.06