On a down day for the stock market, one semiconductor stock is breaking from the herd and running higher. As of 10:50 a.m. ET, Intel (INTC +5.42%) shares are gaining 3.2%.
You can thank the friendly analysts at investment bank Mizuho & Co. for that. Last night, after the close of trading, Mizuho upgraded Intel stock to buy.
NASDAQ: INTC
Key Data Points
Sure, Intel's unprofitable now, but just wait until next year!
With more than $1.6 billion in net losses racked up over the past 12 months, Intel stock may not look like much right now. You may even wonder what other investors are thinking when they value Intel stock at more than $171 billion, even as the stock continues losing money and burning cash.
And yet, according to Mizuho, Intel's got potential.
Citing "significant" new product launches for the data center market over the course of the next year, Mizuho predicts that Intel is on course to reverse years of declining sales in this business segment, as related in a write-up on The Fly last night. Furthermore, the company will book $17.5 billion in sales in 2024, and then grow that number 14% to $19.9 billion in 2025.
Similarly, on the PC side of things, Mizuho sees Intel changing course to grow sales of chips for personal computer use. The analyst sees Intel's PC chip sales growing to $34 billion next year, and $36.7 billion the year after that.
How much is Intel stock worth?
So as crazy as it might sound to say that Intel is worth the $170 billion it costs today -- more than $40 a share -- Mizuho actually thinks this stock could be worth $50 a share -- more than $210 billion in the near future.
What's more, the analyst argues that if Intel proceeds with spinning off its FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) business in an IPO in a couple of years, investors could value this IPO so highly as to unlock a further $17 per share in value for Intel stock. Ultimately, the analyst sees Intel stock growing to a share price as high as $87 a few years down the road -- more than twice what the stock is worth today.
Personally, I have my doubts this will happen. But just hearing Mizuho muse about the potential, it's no wonder Intel investors are excited today.
