Intel shares tumble nearly 30% after weak fourth-quarter outlook

Intel's shares dropped almost 30% on Friday, putting the chipmaker on track for its worst trading day since July 1974 and erasing roughly $150 billion in market value. The decline followed a fourth-quarter outlook that fell short of Wall Street forecasts, despite the company reporting strong quarterly results.

For the quarter, Intel posted adjusted earnings of $0.52 per share and data-center revenue of $7.3 billion, topping estimates. However, the company projected fourth-quarter revenue of $15-$16 billion and earnings of $0.25 per share, below analysts' expectations of about $17 billion and $0.43 per share.

The outlook also highlighted a projected 12% decline in PC shipments this year and a further 10% drop in 2027, as AI-driven data centers drive up memory-chip prices for laptops and desktops. An incident at Intel's Israel factory is expected to cut fourth-quarter revenue by about $300 million.

"Rebuilding Intel is going to be a multiyear journey, and I remain firmly committed to making it happen," CEO Lip-Bu Tan said on the earnings call.

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon described the outlook as "(in a word) terrible" and lowered his price target to $75 from $110.

The sell-off also impacted other tech stocks, with PC makers Dell and HP slipping, and contributed to broader declines in shares of Alphabet and Amazon. The U.S. government’s 9.9% stake in Intel lost more than $10 billion in value, though it remains worth about three times the purchase price paid last August.