CEO of Intel just gave Jim Cramer one more reason to call it his favorite stock
Intel on Wednesday revealed CEO Lip-Bu Tan as a big buyer in the massive stock sale that the company announced this week. It’s another bullish sign for what Jim Cramer has called his favorite stock in the Club portfolio. Wall Street seems to agree with Jim, sending Intel shares up 4.5% to $102 each. According to a new prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tan and “one of his family members” have agreed to purchase a combined $12 million worth of shares in the now $20 billion equity sale. The offering aimed at offsetting artificial intelligence spending was raised from $15 billion Tuesday and priced at $95 per share. Jim Cramer said this week that he supports Intel’s fundraising strategy. In fact, when the stock declined 4% on the first news of the offering Monday, the Club used the pullback as an opportunity to add to the position. Jim believes Intel will use the capital to build out its third-party chip manufacturing business. In the semiconductor industry, factories for production are called foundries. “I believe that if the foundry can get a very good marquee customer, which you can’t get until you prove that it works, then it’s going to really be off to the races,” Jim said during Wednesday’s Morning Meeting , noting that getting to this point requires lots of investment. Thus far, analysts have largely been positive about Intel’s stock offering. “Overall we view the raise as a strong endorsement of [Intel’s] confidence in its foundry roadmap,” wrote UBS in a note to clients Tuesday. The UBS analysts, however, reduced their Intel price target to $112 per share from $121, citing a “lack of confidence” in the company’s current product roadmap. They maintained a hold equivalent rating. We have a 1 rating, buy equivalent , on Intel, with a $140 price target, based on three parts of its business. Intel’s foundry division has become a focal point as chip designers seek manufacturing alternatives to Taiwan Semiconductor . The world’s largest chip manufacturer is currently at capacity. While there have been rumors of possible big-name interest, Intel won business last month from cybersecurity company Fortinet to produce its next-generation security chip. Intel fabricates most of its own chips, including the company’s valuable central processing units. CPUs from Intel and its rivals, such as Advanced Micro Devices , have become a hot commodity in data centers as AI computing transitions from largely training to the daily running of those trained models known as inference. In addition to its own chips and a burgeoning foundry, Jim likes Intel for its advanced semiconductor packaging business. “Lip-Bu Tan is known,” Jim added. “He’s the greatest venture capitalist ever to hit the semiconductor industry.” Tan stepped away from the VC world to become CEO of Intel in March 2025, taking over at a time of great peril for the company. INTC mountain 2025-03-01 Intel performance since March 2025 Since taking over, Tan has orchestrated an incredible turnaround, with the stock up about 300% during his tenure. That’s why Jim has been such a fan, and why the disclosure of Tan’s stock purchases in the $20 billion offering is so important. We love it when CEOs buy their own stock. Putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak, is seen as a vote of confidence. Jim likes to buy alongside the executives, and that’s what he’s been doing for the Club in incremental purchases since initiating the position in early June. To be sure, buying from executives and board members doesn’t always translate to higher stock prices for the companies. Nike was a prime example. We were encouraged when Apple chief Tim Cook, also a Nike board member, and Nike CEO Elliott Hill made two rounds of insider buys . However, Nike still languished as Hill’s efforts to turn the company around were taking much longer than expected. We exited Nike on July 1, the day after the company reported another muted quarter. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long INTC. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
