Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) has given back more than half of its 2026 rally in four months.
The stock touched an intraday record of $142.35 on June 30, putting the chipmaker’s market value near $756 billion. Shares closed Tuesday near $60.55, according to Benzinga Pro data, leaving Intel worth about $322 billion.
Roughly $434 billion has disappeared. Both values are estimates based on Intel’s current count of about 5.31 billion shares.
Q3 Beat Overshadowed by Q4 Guidance
The selling picked up speed after Intel’s third-quarter report last week.
Intel said revenue climbed 21% from a year earlier to $16.5 billion, and non-GAAP earnings reached 52 cents per share. Data center and AI revenue jumped 78% to $7.3 billion. CFO David Zinsner called it the strongest data center growth in 15 years.
Guidance for the current quarter disappointed. Intel forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion, with non-GAAP EPS of 25 cents. The outlook came in weaker than expected as global PC sales slowed. Zinsner also said he expects the PC slowdown to last at least through the first half of next year.
Intel shares dropped about 29% the day after the print, their worst day since the 1970s.
The chart below shows the 1-year performance of INTC:
Downgrades Pile Up
Analysts headed for the sidelines. Bank of America, Roth Capital and Seaport Research each downgraded Intel to Neutral from Buy.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya said the company “has not communicated enough traction with external foundry customers,” according to CNBC.
Price targets came down across the Street. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri cut his target to $80 from $100, while Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley lowered his to $75 from $100.
Uncle Sam’s INTC Stake
Taxpayers are feeling it too. The U.S. government became Intel’s largest shareholder after taking a 10% stake in August 2025, and the Oct. 30 plunge alone cut more than $11 billion from the stake’s value.
Measured from Intel’s peak, the losses run deeper. The government’s 433 million shares were worth about $61.6 billion at the June 30 high. At Tuesday’s close, their value stood near $26.2 billion, with roughly $35 billion in paper value erased.
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What Comes Next for Intel
Intel still has a financial cushion. Investments from the government and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) have shored up its balance sheet. The company held $21.84 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of September, against $46.32 billion in long-term debt.
Bank of America’s comments on foundry customers point to the bigger question hanging over the stock. Data center sales are surging, but the foundry business still needs outside customers to justify the comeback story Wall Street bought into this summer.
INTC Stock Price Activity: Intel stock was down 3.28% at $58.56 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro market data.
Photo: PJ McDonnell / Shutterstock
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