Bank of America just threw cold water on Intel's (INTC) recent rally, downgrading the stock to “Underperform” with a $34 price target. That implies roughly 8% downside from current levels after INTC stock surged nearly 85% in 2025. The analysts believe Intel has climbed too far, too fast. While the company's balance sheet has improved and its foundry business shows external partnership potential, BofA thinks the recent $80 billion jump in market cap more than reflects these positives. More News from Barc ...

Market Overview - Wall Street reached record-high closes following the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate cut of 2025 and Nvidia's announcement of a $5 billion investment in Intel, leading to a significant rally in major indexes [1][2] - The rate cut was influenced by signs of a softening jobs market and lower unemployment claims, raising expectations for further easing [2] Company Highlights Intel - Intel's stock surged nearly 23%, marking its largest one-day gain since 1987, after Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang announced a partnership where Nvidia will become a "very large customer" of Intel CPUs [4] - The partnership will involve Nvidia supplying "GPU chiplets" for integration into Intel's products, combining Intel's x86 hardware with Nvidia's graphics and AI components [4] FedEx - FedEx reported Q1 fiscal 2026 revenue of $22.2 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $3.83, exceeding expectations of $3.62, driven by cost savings and stronger domestic parcel volumes [5] - The company also completed $500 million in buybacks and reaffirmed a revenue growth outlook of 4–6% for the year [5] IonQ - IonQ's shares jumped to all-time highs after signing a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy to demonstrate quantum-secure communications from space [6] - The company also acquired Vector Atomic, enhancing its quantum sensing capabilities [6] Bearish Trends Cracker Barrel - Cracker Barrel's shares fell sharply after its fiscal Q4 results showed revenue of $868.09 million, beating expectations, but adjusted earnings of $0.74 per share missed the $0.80 estimate [7] - The company provided soft guidance for fiscal 2026, projecting revenue between $3.35–$3.45 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $150–$190 million [7] Dave & Buster's - Dave & Buster's stock dropped approximately 15.25% after Q2 results revealed revenue of $557.41 million, missing the consensus of $562.78 million, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.40, falling short of the $0.92 expected [8] Nucor - Nucor's stock plunged after the company forecasted Q3 earnings of $2.05 to $2.15 per share, significantly below the Wall Street estimate of $2.61, citing expected earnings declines across all operating segments [9][10]

Summary of NVIDIA and Intel Collaboration Conference Call Industry and Companies Involved - **Industry**: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computing Infrastructure - **Companies**: NVIDIA and Intel Core Points and Arguments 1. **Partnership Announcement**: NVIDIA and Intel announced a collaboration to develop AI infrastructure and personal computing products, focusing on custom x86 CPUs for data centers and PCs [3][4][5] 2. **Historical Significance**: This partnership is described as a historic collaboration that marks a significant milestone in the computing industry, combining NVIDIA's GPU technology with Intel's CPU capabilities [5][6] 3. **Market Opportunities**: The collaboration aims to address a combined market opportunity of approximately $50 billion annually, with significant growth potential in both data center and consumer PC markets [26][38] 4. **Product Development**: The companies will create custom Intel x86 CPUs integrated with NVIDIA's AI infrastructure, enhancing performance and efficiency in computing [4][12] 5. **AI Computing Evolution**: The call emphasized that AI is driving a transformation in computing, moving beyond traditional CPU architectures to more integrated solutions that leverage both CPU and GPU technologies [3][4] 6. **Integration of Technologies**: The partnership will utilize NVLink technology to connect Intel's CPUs with NVIDIA's GPUs, creating a new class of integrated graphics laptops and advanced data center solutions [12][39] 7. **Market Segmentation**: NVIDIA's current market focus is on gaming and workstations, while the collaboration will also target the integrated CPU-GPU market, which has been largely underserved [12][13] 8. **Custom Solutions**: The development of custom solutions is expected to take about a year, with both companies' architecture teams already collaborating on product designs [18][22] 9. **Foundry Considerations**: NVIDIA is currently evaluating Intel's foundry capabilities but continues to rely on TSMC for its ARM-based CPUs. The partnership is primarily focused on product collaboration rather than immediate foundry commitments [15][20][25] 10. **Cultural Shift at Intel**: Intel's new CEO aims to foster a lean, fast-moving engineering culture to match NVIDIA's innovation pace, indicating a significant cultural shift within Intel [44] Other Important but Potentially Overlooked Content 1. **Investment in Intel**: NVIDIA has made an equity investment in Intel, reflecting confidence in the partnership and the potential for mutual growth [28][30] 2. **Regulatory Context**: The partnership was clarified to have no involvement from the Trump administration, emphasizing that it is a business-driven collaboration focused on technology and market opportunities [19][50] 3. **Manufacturing in the U.S.**: Both companies expressed a commitment to U.S. manufacturing, although specific proportions of chips produced domestically were not detailed [54] 4. **Future Announcements**: Both companies indicated that more details regarding product specifications and manufacturing processes would be shared in the future as developments progress [25][57] This summary encapsulates the key points discussed during the conference call, highlighting the strategic partnership between NVIDIA and Intel and its implications for the AI and computing landscape.