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Intel just delivered one of the most surprising earnings beats in the semiconductor sector this year. Revenue came in at $13.58 billion, well above the $12.32 billion analysts had expected. EPS hit $0.29, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.28, according to Intel’s Q1 press release.Still, not everyone on Wall Street is convinced the stock deserves to be where it is. The gap between the analysts who see a genuine turnaround and those who remain skeptical is wide, and it’s getting wider.The call HSBC just made on IntelHSBC made the boldest call on Intel. The bank upgraded the stock to buy from hold and raised its price target to $95 from $50, nearly doubling it in a single move, according to GuruFocus.Analyst Frank Lee said the upgrade was driven by rising demand for server processors, which he now sees as more important to Intel’s near-term outlook than its foundry ambitions.More Wall StreetJPMorgan resets S&P 500 price target for the rest of 2026Vanguard challenges the S&P 500 as a one-stop strategyGoldman Sachs resets Broadcom stock forecastHe expects Intel to ship 20% more server CPUs in both 2026 and 2027, with average selling prices also rising 20% in 2026 and another 10% in 2027 in a tight supply environment, GuruFocus noted.HSBC’s Q2 revenue estimate for Intel stands at $14.2 billion, roughly 9% above Wall Street consensus, GuruFocus added. The $95 target is based on a 2027 earnings framework and excludes Intel Foundry from the core valuation. That signals the bank is making its case on Intel’s established chip business, not betting on every part of the company’s long-term strategy at once.For context, Intel also reported strong Q2 guidance of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion in revenue with EPS guidance of $0.20, well above the consensus of $0.06, according to Intel’s Q1 press release.Why server CPUs are the story right nowThe excitement around Intel is not just about one quarter. It is about what is happening structurally in the server CPU market, and why that matters for a company that has been fighting to reclaim credibility for years.As agentic AI workloads grow, the compute mix is shifting. The GPU-to-CPU ratio that defined the pretraining era is giving way to something closer to parity as real-time agent workloads run more heavily on CPUs. Intel is directly in the path of that shift, and the Q1 results confirmed the demand is already showing up in orders and pricing.Related: Bank of America resets Intel stock price target after earningsMorgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore raised his Intel price target to $56 from $41 ahead of earnings, citing stronger server demand and higher expected earnings. His team now projects 30% year-over-year revenue growth for Intel’s data center segment in 2026, reaching $21.8 billion. “It has been clear for a while that CPUs are becoming a more substantive part of the AI surge, as real-time agents built by AI are running on CPU,” Moore’s team wrote, according to Investing.com.Moore kept his equal weight rating even as he raised the target. He also upgraded Intel to overweight after earnings, lifting the target further to $73, according to Investing.com. But he named Micron and SanDisk as his preferred way to play CPU strength, noting they offer better risk-reward than Intel directly.Where Bank of America stands on IntelNot every analyst is celebrating. Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya reiterated an underperform rating on Intel after earnings, raising his price target to $56 from $48. His valuation is based on a sum-of-parts framework that values the internal chip business at $45 and the external foundry segment at $11, in line with competitive peers.Arya raised his 2026 EPS estimate by 66% to $1.04 and his 2027 estimate by 39% to $1.58, acknowledging the earnings beat. But his concern remains the foundry business. He cited lower-than-expected yields and ramps on Intel’s 18A and upcoming 14A nodes, and the continued lack of a major external wafer-processing customer, as reasons to stay cautious.Key analyst moves on Intel after Q1 2026 earnings:HSBC: Upgraded to buy from hold by analyst Frank Lee, price target raised to $95 from $50, according to GuruFocusMorgan Stanley: Upgraded to overweight by analyst Joseph Moore, target raised to $73 from $56, Investing.com confirmedBank of America: Underperform reiterated by analyst Vivek Arya, target raised to $56 from $48Wells Fargo: Raised target to $85, according to GuruFocusRoyal Bank of Canada: Raised target to $80, sector perform rating maintained, GuruFocus notedIntel Q1 2026 EPS: $0.29, beating consensus of $0.01 by $0.28, Intel’s Q1 press release indicatedIntel Q1 2026 revenue: $13.58 billion, versus analyst estimate of $12.32 billion, according to Intel’s Q1 press releaseIntel Q2 2026 guidance: Revenue $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion, EPS $0.20 versus consensus $0.06, Intel’s Q1 press release confirmed

Intel’s best quarter in years just produced one of the most divided analyst reactions on Wall Street.Chih/Getty Images

Why the Street is still divided on IntelHSBC’s $95 target is the most aggressive call on Intel right now. It sits far above the analyst consensus, which remains clustered much closer to the mid-$50s, even after post-earnings upgrades. That gap reflects a genuine disagreement about what Intel’s earnings recovery actually proves.The bulls, led by HSBC, see the server CPU surge as structural. They believe Intel can sustain higher shipment volumes and pricing for at least two years, which would justify a much richer valuation than the market currently assigns.The bears, including Bank of America, acknowledge the strong quarter but argue the foundry problem has not gone away. Yields at Intel Foundry, while improving, remain below target. Without a major external wafer customer, the foundry business continues to be a drag on the overall financial profile. And the stock, having already rallied sharply, may already be pricing in more good news than the fundamentals can yet support.What investors should watch from hereThe debate between $56 and $95 will not be settled by one quarter. It will be settled by execution over the next several earnings cycles.The key variables are clear. Can Intel sustain 20% growth in server CPU shipments through 2027? Will pricing hold as competitors respond? And can the foundry business find its first major external customer before investor patience runs out?HSBC’s call is a statement that Intel’s core business is improving fast enough to justify a major re-rating. Bank of America’s call is a reminder that improvement and completion are not the same thing. For now, both views are on the table, and the next few quarters will determine which one ages better.Related: Analysts drop verdicts on AMD, Intel, and ARM

Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, often takes advantage of market swings.That’s what she just did, selling shares of a semiconductor stock after it jumped 25% in a week.Last year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s return of 17.88% in the same period. But the performance has shifted this year.So far in 2026, the Ark Innovation ETF is down 1.76%, while the S&P 500 surged 4.67% over the same period, according to Yahoo Finance data.Wood gained a reputation after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% return in 2020. But her style also brings painful losses in bearish markets, as seen in 2022, when the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled more than 60%.Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of April 24, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -9.01%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 13.01% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.Cathie Wood expects a “great acceleration” brought by tech advancementsWood focuses on high-tech companies across artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She thinks these businesses have strong growth potential, though their volatility often causes fluctuations in the Ark’s funds.According to Morningstar analyst Bella Albrecht, two of Wood’s Ark funds were among the worst-performing ETFs in the first quarter of 2026. The Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) ranked second on the list, while the ARK Innovation ETF placed fifth.“We’re not going into the Great Depression, we’re going into the great acceleration,” Wood said, pointing to how past technological revolutions reshaped economic growth.She noted that global real GDP growth averaged just 0.6% between 1500 and 1900, before the Industrial Revolution lifted it to around 3% for more than a century. Now, she argues, a new wave of innovation could push growth much higher.“We think [technologies] are going to take growth into the 7 to 8% range,” Wood said, adding that the number may actually be conservative.Wood also noted that AI is driving down costs across industries.“These technologies are deflationary,” she said. “AI training costs are dropping 75% per year, and inference costs are falling as much as 85% to even 98% annually.”In a letter published in January, Wood rejects the “AI bubble” talk, saying it “is years away” and “the most powerful capital spending cycle in history” is coming.From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out $7 billion in investor wealth, according to a March 2025 analysis by Morningstar’s analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott’s ranking. The analyst hasn’t updated the 2025 ranking.In a March Bloomberg podcast, Wood says the global economy is not heading into a downturn, but into what she calls a “great acceleration” driven by AI and other breakthrough technologies.More AI:Micron sits at the center of a red-hot chip rallyIBM CEO sends blunt message on AI and quantum computingAnthropic CEO makes shocking admission about AI”What once was the cap in spending seems to have become a floor now that the AI, robotics, energy storage, blockchain technology, and multiomics sequencing platforms are ready for prime time,” she said.Not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. In the 12 months through April 21, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.12 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi. 

In the 12 months through April 21, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $1.12 billion in net outflows.Getty Images

Cathie Wood sells $75 million of AMD stock after rallyOn April 24, Wood’s Ark funds sold a total of 215,643 shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), according to Ark’s daily trade information. These shares are valued at approximately $75 million based on AMD’s latest closing price of $347.81. This is one of Wood’s largest sales recently.Shares of AMD jumped 13.9% on April 24, bringing its gains to nearly 70% over the past month.The recent gains were largely driven by rival Intel, which reported strong earnings and raised guidance on surging demand for data center CPUs as companies ramp up AI spending.Related: Bank of America resets Intel stock price target after earnings“The CPU is reinserting itself as the indispensable foundation of the AI era,” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said during an earnings call. “This isn’t just our wishful thinking, it’s what we hear from our customers.”Intel’s results sent its stock higher by 23% on April 24 and sparked a rally in AMD, another major CPU maker. Both AMD and Intel have told customers they plan to raise CPU prices across their product lines starting in March and April, Nikkei Asia reported last month. In fact, CPU prices have been raised multiple times this year, with an average increase of 10%-15%, according to Nikkei Asia.Wall Street analysts have noticed a shift in AI demand. “We figured CPUs were the next big bottleneck, but Intel’s results indicate that is already translating to very significant upside,” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria wrote in a research note, CNBC reported. “The CPU is reinserting itself as an indispensable foundation of the AI era.”D.A. Davidson has upgraded AMD to buy from neutral, raising AMD stock’s price target to $375, up from $220.“We view Intel’s results as a precursor for a huge step-up for AMD’s CPU franchise and believe the structural shift toward agentic AI workloads is creating unprecedented demand for server CPUs,” the analyst said.AMD is set to post its first quarter results on May 5, with investors looking for more updates on AI-driven sales and profits.Wood’s move on AMD stock likely reflects profit-taking. Despite the massive dump, AMD remains one of her biggest holdings, ranking third in the Ark Innovation ETF’s fund with a market value of $416 million.Top 10 holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF as of April 24, 2026:Tesla (TSLA) 9.49%CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) 6.40%Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) 5.18%Tempus AI (TEM) 4.94%Shopify (SHOP) 4.47%Coinbase Global (COIN) 4.44%Robinhood Markets (HOOD) 4.31%Roku (ROKU) 4.25%Circle Internet Group (CRCL) 4.21%Beam Therapeutics (BEAM) 3.78%Other than selling AMD shares, Wood’s recent moves include buying X Energy (XE) and Amazon (AMZN) across Ark funds, while also trimming Rocket Lab (RKLB) shares.Related: Goldman Sachs reassesses Apple stock ahead of earnings

AT&T has been rapidly revamping its wireless offerings as it struggles to keep customers from switching to growing competitors. After months of facing elevated churn in its wireless business, the carrier is betting big on its latest strategy to reverse this trend. In the first quarter of 2026, AT&T’s postpaid phone churn, the percentage of customers canceling their service, reached 0.89%, up from 0.83% in the same quarter in 2025, according to the company’s most recent earnings report. The carrier also saw churn in its prepaid phone business rise to 2.62%, up 7 percentage points year over year.The spike in churn comes as more consumers across the country ditch traditional carriers for cheaper alternatives to avoid rising wireless bills. Some of these options include wireless service from mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and cable companies, which offer bundled phone, internet and cable TV plans. Satellite mobile service is also becoming a growing option for consumers, as services like Starlink expand their offerings and the launch of Amazon Leo looms. A survey from WhistleOut in December last year found that 42% of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon customers faced bill increases for their wireless service in the past year. While 58% of these customers said they are considering switching to a different carrier, AT&T is at risk of losing 64.9 million customers due to its wireless plan prices. Last year, AT&T restricted its autopay discount and faced backlash for allegedly using a bait-and-switch tactic to lure customers from competitors. In March, it announced price increases for legacy wireless plans, which threatens to push more price-conscious customers out the door. AT&T CEO says new strategy is designed to reduce churnDuring an earnings call on April 23, AT&T CEO John Stankey said that despite elevated churn, the company welcomed 294,000 postpaid phone net adds in the first quarter of this year.He said the company is betting big on its strategy of offering converged phone and internet services to attract and retain customers. “The best way for us to manage churn is to converge customers,” said Stankey. “When we get through the repositioning and the shifting that’s going on in the industry right now, which is aligning customers to asset basis, I believe you’re naturally going to see that churn dynamic improve.”Over the past year, AT&T has ramped up its converged offerings, a move that rivals those from cable competitors. The carrier’s efforts also come as it plans to expand its fiber internet footprint by 5 million locations each year through the end of this decade.To help accomplish this goal, it completed a $5.75 billion acquisition of Lumen’s Mass Markets fiber business in February, which allowed AT&T’s fiber internet service to be available across 32 states. Related: AT&T quietly tests new service that rivals T-MobileShortly after this move, AT&T introduced its OneConnect subscription in March, offering customers combined wireless and fiber internet service at a starting price of $90 per month. Stankey said this plan specifically targets customers who aren’t too keen on upgrading their devices. “One of the things that we see is, first of all, the BYOD (bring your own device) segment is increasing more broadly,” he said. “That’s one reason why we started with it. We see customers more willing to hang on their devices a bit longer, and they’re certainly becoming more accustomed to porting them from one carrier to the next.” “And so we want to tailor this plan to make sure that we can receive those customers and then attach them to a network construct that drives churn down,” he continued. Stankey also said that throughout the year, AT&T will start offering “more variants” of the OneConnect plan. More AT&T News:AT&T customers threaten to leave after latest warning AT&T rolls out major upgrade for customers, challenging T-MobileAT&T drops 3 new phone plans to keep customers from switchingHe highlighted that converging customers has so far been successful for the company, as it mostly attracts customers who add only one to two phone lines per account. Those are the accounts AT&T is targeting because it believes that those customers will stay longer and make more purchases in the future. “We’re getting account growth,” he said. “And if you looked at like average line sizes, for example, on our wireless account base, those accounts that are coming in tend to be below average for what we might have in the embedded base. And that’s an indicator that we’re picking up.”“One and two-line accounts that are new to us,” he continued. “They’re new fiber, they’re new wireless. And that’s really good because ultimately, those one- and two-line accounts become the three- and four-line accounts of the future.”As AT&T doubles down on offering converged wireless and internet services to customers, Stankey believes that churn in the company’s wireless business will reach a “tipping point.”“I think there’s going to be a little bit of the accelerated churn dynamic that you’ve been seeing in the last couple of quarters as that shakes itself out,” said Stankey. “But just like any math equation, you hit that tipping point where you start to get the benefits of the strategy. And I think you’re going to see it ultimately come back in the line.” 

AT&T CEO John Stankey believes bundling wireless and internet services is the key to combating rising churn. Photo by Bloomberg on Getty Images

Analyst warns about AT&T’s strategy amid shifting consumer demandIn response to AT&T’s increased reliance on leveraging converged offers to combat churn, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said in a report for investors, which was obtained by Fierce Network, that “the narrative is by now relatively familiar.”“AT&T will compete against a cable operator with a cost (and consumer price) advantage in offering a similar converged bundle, and against price-based stand-alone offerings from FWA and increasingly, LEO satellite,” said Moffett. “As we’ve warned many times, ‘convergence’ is an elevated name for ‘discounts,’” he added. “The product doesn’t work any differently. The costs of providing the two services aren’t any lower together than apart. It’s only the prices, and the margins, that are lower.” AT&T’s big bet on converged offers comes as more U.S. consumers are preferring to bundle their wireless and internet services to save money, according to a survey from Optimum last year. Where Americans stand on bundling mobile and internet services:About 70% of Americans are open to bundling mobile service, while about 62% say the same for internet plans. Roughly 80% view bundled internet and mobile services as a more cost-effective optionthan paying for each separately. About 1 in 4 Americans are likely to sign up for a bundled plan in 2026.
Source: Optimum
Gabriel Torres, vice president of mobile product management at Optimum, said in a statement to CableTV.com that as more consumers rely on digital technology for remote work, social media, and other uses, demand for “comprehensive connectivity solutions” rises. “Additionally, the desire for cost-effective options that simplify billing and provide added value is a significant motivator for consumers when choosing bundled services,” he said.Related: AT&T drops 3 new phone plans to keep customers from switching