Intel stock drops nearly 8% following strong Q2 earnings report
Intel Corporation experienced a significant fluctuation in its stock value following the announcement of its second-quarter earnings results. After reporting impressive figures that exceeded Wall Street’s projections, Intel’s stock initially surged by nearly 13% in after-hours trading before ultimately declining by almost 8% the subsequent day. This sharp descent occurred as investors reassessed the company’s future growth prospects amidst rising capital expenditures, which are now forecasted to exceed billion in 2026, compared to the previous estimate of approximately billion. This increase is deemed necessary to support surging demand for Intel’s range of products.
For the second quarter, Intel disclosed earnings of [or_text model=”openai/gpt-4o-mini” prompt=”Rewrite the following article for WirePaw in the professional, objective style of a top newspaper like the NY Times. Expand to at least 350 words. Requirements: SEO-friendly and plagiarism-free. Replace any mention of the original source with ‘a media source’. Do not mention the author. Do not include quotation marks, markdown, or any code in the output. At the very end of the article, on a new line, output only the most relevant tags from this exact list as hashtags: #business #politics #entertainment #technology #environment. Only include tags that apply. Example output: #business #technology. Article:
Intel (INTC) stock fell almost 8% on Friday after posting blowout Q2 earnings after the bell on Thursday, blowing past Wall Street’s expectations on both the top and bottom lines and topping third quarter guidance estimates.
In after-hours trading on Thursday, the stock popped nearly 13% post-earnings. But the stock pared those gains on Friday as investors digested Intel’s ballooning capital expenditures estimates. The company plans to spend more than $20 billion in 2026, up from about $18 billion, to meet high demand for its products.
“We delivered a strong second quarter, exceeding our financial guidance on robust demand and improved execution, including volume upside driven by higher factory yields and improved cycle times,” Intel CFO Dave Zinsner said in a statement.
“AI-driven compute continues to strengthen, and to support expected growth this year and next across products and foundry, we are meaningfully increasing our investments in equipment, clean room space, and substrates.”
For the quarter, Intel saw earnings per share of $0.38 on revenue of $16.1 billion. Wall Street was anticipating EPS of $0.21 on revenue of $14.43 billion.
The company also said it is projecting Q3 revenue of between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion, well ahead of the $15.06 billion estimate.
Q2 data center revenue topped out at $6.3 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $5.54 billion. Client computing revenue was $8.9 billion. Projections called for $7.99 billion.
Earlier this week, Intel confirmed it will lay off employees in its data center business, sending shares higher.
“As part of our broader strategy to become a more focused and efficient company, Intel’s Data Center Group (DCG) is aligning its organization to ensure it has the right roles and skills in place to position the business for long-term success,” an Intel spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
“We are committed to treating all impacted employees with respect and providing resources to support them through this transition,” they added.
Intel stock has rocketed since the start of the year, rising 178% as CEO Lip-Bu Tan continues an aggressive turnaround effort. The company has also benefited from investments by the Trump administration and Nvidia (NVDA), as well as an increased emphasis on central processing units (CPUs) as the tech industry turns toward AI agents.
Intel has also benefited from reports that its foundry business is beginning to sign on big-name customers. According to The Information, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has placed an order with Intel to produce 3 million of its custom Tensor Processing Units.
The report said Nvidia is also looking into Intel as an option.
The moves come as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) struggles to keep up with the immense demand from clients, including Nvidia, AMD (AMD), Apple (AAPL), and others, amid the AI boom. That gives Intel a prime opportunity to slide in as a secondary chip manufacturer to pick up the slack.
While the AI explosion has helped Intel’s data center and foundry segments, it’s also dealing with the impact of the AI-induced memory and storage shortage on its client segment.
Higher memory chip prices are forcing companies to pull low-margin entry-level and midrange laptops and desktops, while simultaneously increasing prices on premium offerings.
Eventually, that will lead to demand destruction as customers opt to keep their older devices longer to avoid paying for costlier ones.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DanielHowley.
Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
“].38 per share on revenues totaling .1 billion, markedly exceeding analysts’ expectations of [or_text model=”openai/gpt-4o-mini” prompt=”Rewrite the following article for WirePaw in the professional, objective style of a top newspaper like the NY Times. Expand to at least 350 words. Requirements: SEO-friendly and plagiarism-free. Replace any mention of the original source with ‘a media source’. Do not mention the author. Do not include quotation marks, markdown, or any code in the output. At the very end of the article, on a new line, output only the most relevant tags from this exact list as hashtags: #business #politics #entertainment #technology #environment. Only include tags that apply. Example output: #business #technology. Article:
Intel (INTC) stock fell almost 8% on Friday after posting blowout Q2 earnings after the bell on Thursday, blowing past Wall Street’s expectations on both the top and bottom lines and topping third quarter guidance estimates.
In after-hours trading on Thursday, the stock popped nearly 13% post-earnings. But the stock pared those gains on Friday as investors digested Intel’s ballooning capital expenditures estimates. The company plans to spend more than $20 billion in 2026, up from about $18 billion, to meet high demand for its products.
“We delivered a strong second quarter, exceeding our financial guidance on robust demand and improved execution, including volume upside driven by higher factory yields and improved cycle times,” Intel CFO Dave Zinsner said in a statement.
“AI-driven compute continues to strengthen, and to support expected growth this year and next across products and foundry, we are meaningfully increasing our investments in equipment, clean room space, and substrates.”
For the quarter, Intel saw earnings per share of $0.38 on revenue of $16.1 billion. Wall Street was anticipating EPS of $0.21 on revenue of $14.43 billion.
The company also said it is projecting Q3 revenue of between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion, well ahead of the $15.06 billion estimate.
Q2 data center revenue topped out at $6.3 billion, versus analysts’ estimates of $5.54 billion. Client computing revenue was $8.9 billion. Projections called for $7.99 billion.
Earlier this week, Intel confirmed it will lay off employees in its data center business, sending shares higher.
“As part of our broader strategy to become a more focused and efficient company, Intel’s Data Center Group (DCG) is aligning its organization to ensure it has the right roles and skills in place to position the business for long-term success,” an Intel spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
“We are committed to treating all impacted employees with respect and providing resources to support them through this transition,” they added.
Intel stock has rocketed since the start of the year, rising 178% as CEO Lip-Bu Tan continues an aggressive turnaround effort. The company has also benefited from investments by the Trump administration and Nvidia (NVDA), as well as an increased emphasis on central processing units (CPUs) as the tech industry turns toward AI agents.
Intel has also benefited from reports that its foundry business is beginning to sign on big-name customers. According to The Information, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has placed an order with Intel to produce 3 million of its custom Tensor Processing Units.
The report said Nvidia is also looking into Intel as an option.
The moves come as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) struggles to keep up with the immense demand from clients, including Nvidia, AMD (AMD), Apple (AAPL), and others, amid the AI boom. That gives Intel a prime opportunity to slide in as a secondary chip manufacturer to pick up the slack.
While the AI explosion has helped Intel’s data center and foundry segments, it’s also dealing with the impact of the AI-induced memory and storage shortage on its client segment.
Higher memory chip prices are forcing companies to pull low-margin entry-level and midrange laptops and desktops, while simultaneously increasing prices on premium offerings.
Eventually, that will lead to demand destruction as customers opt to keep their older devices longer to avoid paying for costlier ones.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DanielHowley.
Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
“].21 per share and revenue of .43 billion. Additionally, the company’s guidance for the upcoming third quarter estimated revenue between .8 billion and .8 billion, surpassing the consensus of .06 billion.
A notable highlight of Intel’s earnings report was the performance of its data center sector, which achieved revenue of .3 billion against analyst expectations of .54 billion. The client computing division also performed strongly, reporting revenues of .9 billion compared to projections of .99 billion.
In conjunction with its strong earnings report, Intel announced forthcoming layoffs within its data center business, a move that has sparked interest from investors. This strategic alignment aims to enhance the organization’s efficiency and ensure it is equipped with the right talent to pursue long-term success.
The influx of AI demand is contributing positively to Intel’s performance in specific areas, particularly in its foundry services, which are reportedly drawing interest from several high-profile clients, including major players such as Google. However, the company remains vigilant of challenges related to a memory and storage shortage affecting its client segment, leading to higher prices that could inhibit demand for its lower-margin products.
As Intel navigates these complexities, its stock has significantly rebounded over the past year, rising 178% under the leadership of CEO Lip-Bu Tan. This recovery has been bolstered by supportive policies from the previous administration and increasing reliance on central processing units amid the tech industry’s shift towards AI-driven technologies.
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