As Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) stock rallied nearly 20% over the past 5 days through September 8, 2026, catalyzed by its strong pricing power amid its growing capacity in the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain, Gus Richard, a Wall Street analyst at Northland Securities, upgraded semiconductor giant from ‘Market Perform’ to ‘Outperform’.
Richard raised the firm’s 12-month rating and set a price target for Intel stock at $120. With INTC price hovering at $104.72 at the time of writing, this analyst signals a potential 14.59% upside.
He based his bullish thesis on the company’s major capital allocations, its long-term valuation targets, and structural capacity spending. Specifically, Northland Securities highlighted Intel’s strategic alignment with the mega-scale Terafab project, which is jointly backed by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: SPCX) alongside Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA).
Notably, Terafab is expected to command an initial Phase 1 capital investment of $55 billion and an estimated $120 billion in total build-out expenses through the late 2030s. Amid the anticipated geopolitical uncertainty between China and Taiwan over the next 18 months, Richard believes that Intel is well positioned to reap from server Central Processing Unit (CPU) shortages.
“The analyst expects Intel’s turnaround and Terafab relationship to strengthen its foundry business and support outperformance,” Northland Securities noted.
Is Intel a good stock to buy?
At press time, 31 Wall Street analysts surveyed by TipRanks, over the past three months, have set an average 12-month price target of $116.31.
The highest 12-month price target for Intel stock is $200 while the lowest is $80.
INTC price performance
Year-to-date (YTD), INTC price has rallied by more than $165%. Consequently, this company has a market capitalization of around $506.4 billion.
If INTC continues to benefit from the rising AI spending amid its expected 10% hike in CPU prices, Richard’s 12-month target could materialize.
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