Nancy Pelosi Buys Intel. What Comes Next and If You Should Buy INTC Stock Too.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi — Washington's most famous stock picker and the congresswoman representing California's 11th district — has now trained her eyes on chipmaker Intel (INTC). According to a recent disclosure, Pelosi's household reportedly bought 10,000 shares of INTC stock on July 24, with a total value ranging from $500,000 and $1 million. Notably, Pelosi also purchased 50 call options on the company with a strike price of $50, expiring on June 17, 2027. This was interesting, as long-term options like what Pelosi purchased suffer less from theta decay or a loss in value due to the passing of time.

Thus, it can be inferred that even if the stock loses value, Pelosi is of the belief that Intel can recover in about a year's time when she can get the stock at as cheap a rate as $50. Further, the $50 strike price gives Pelosi the scope for additional upside if the stock price appreciates.

But why now, when Intel stock is already up 150% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis? Let's take a closer look.

Intel's Q2 Did Not Disappoint

Intel's second-quarter 2026 report exceeded Street expectations with both revenue and earnings surpassing estimates. Revenue climbed 25% year-over-year (YOY) to $16.1 billion. Of that total, Data Center and AI (DCAI) revenue of $6.3 billion increased 59% YOY, while Foundry revenue improved 31% YOY to $5.8 billion.

Notably, Intel also saw a significant boost in gross margins to 40.4% from 27.5% in the year-ago period. Diluted EPS of $0.42 per share, which was up from a loss of $0.10 per share last year, also comfortably outpaced the consensus estimate of $0.22 and marked another earnings beat from the company.

For Q3, Intel expects revenue between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $0.38. Wall Street expects revenue and earnings of $16.41 billion and $0.39 per share, respectively.

Net cash from operating activities for the six months ended June 27, 2026, came in at $23.2 billion, up from $6.8 billion in the year-ago period. However, investors should be mindful that of that $23.2 billion, $13.6 billion was attributed to mark-to-market losses on escrowed shares. In August 2025, Intel entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce under which the government provided Intel with $5.7 billion of remaining potential CHIPS/Secure Enclave funding. 

In exchange, Intel agreed to issue the government roughly 275 million Intel shares immediately and up to 159 million additional shares placed in escrow and warrants for up to 241 million additional shares at $20 per share if Intel loses majority ownership of its foundry business. In this, the 159 million escrowed shares are released to the government as Intel receives additional payments under the Secure Enclave program.

Overall, Intel closed the quarter with a cash balance of $12.9 billion, much higher than its short-term debt of about $2 billion.

The valuation of INTC stock also remains elevated. The forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 87 times, price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 8.3 times, and price-to-cash flow (P/CF) ratio of 39 times are all above the respective sector medians.

What's Next for Intel?

The second quarter saw Intel launching some key products and updates.

The Xeon 6+ data center CPU is particularly noteworthy. The flagship Xeon 6990E+ provides 288 efficiency cores, double the 144 core ceiling of the prior Xeon 6 efficiency core family, along with 576 MB of cache and a 450-watt thermal rating. Intel also offers 144, 192, and 264 core versions, giving customers room to balance density against power. The processor is manufactured on Intel 18A and uses Foveros Direct 3D packaging. Intel claims up to 2.5 times the performance and 79% better performance per watt than the previous Xeon 6 efficiency core generation. It also claims that one Xeon 6+ server can replace as many as nine servers using second-generation Xeon processors.

If the claims are true and delivered in the real world, then the Xeon 6+ could see increasing customer adoption as fewer servers can mean lower electricity, cooling, maintenance, rack, and software costs.

Then there is Intel's 2.5D packaging technology, Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB). The newest version, EMIB T, improves on earlier designs by adding vertical silicon connections through the bridge. Power can travel more directly to the chiplets, leaving more routing space for data and helping the package support demanding high-bandwidth memory. This matters for AI accelerators because the processor, memory, networking, and input output tiles must exchange enormous amounts of data without wasting power. Intel says its current packaging can scale to about eight times the standard, with a path beyond 12 times by 2028.

Moreover, compared with Taiwan Semiconductor's (TSM) CoWoS, EMIB has a credible architectural cost advantage because it avoids a full-sized silicon interposer. It also allows customers to mix chiplets made on different manufacturing processes and potentially at different foundries. That flexibility is useful when an expensive leading process is needed only for the compute tile, while input output and control functions can remain on cheaper, mature processes. However, Taiwan Semiconductor still holds the stronger commercial position, supported by a much larger foundry customer base and a mature CoWoS ecosystem.     

What Do Analysts Think of INTC Stock?

Overall, analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Intel stock. The mean target price of $113.87 indicates potential upside of about 24% from current levels. Out of 45 analysts covering INTC stock, nine have a “Strong Buy” rating, one has a “Moderate Buy” rating, 33 have a “Hold” rating, and two have a “Strong Sell” rating.