Intel shares climbed 4% on Wednesday to an intraday high of $104.42 and closed near $101.05 after Barclays upgraded the stock from Underperform to Overweight. The move came as CEO Lip-Bu Tan disclosed a purchase of 105,263 shares at $95 each, worth nearly $10 million and increasing his holdings by 8.7% to 1,314,669 shares. Investors are also tracking continuing discussions with SK Hynix over a potential lease at Intel’s Ohio fabrication facility or a joint venture that could expand chip access for cloud-computing companies, although SK Hynix said no formal agreement has been reached and South Korean government involvement may be required. Altera, Intel’s programmable-chip business, has confidentially filed for a potential IPO, with Intel expected to retain a 49% stake. Analyst views remain mixed: consensus is Hold with a mean target of $108.49, while Mizuho cut its target to $92 and Tigress Financial raised its target to $145. Intel’s second-quarter EPS of $0.42 and revenue of $16.13 billion exceeded consensus estimates, while the company provided third-quarter 2026 EPS guidance of $0.38.