Intel stock fell again Wednesday prompting an industry analyst to accuse the chipmaker’s board of badly mishandling the sudden exit of CEO Pat Gelsinger.
The shares had rallied early Monday when news of Gelsinger’s departure, signaling possible positive change at the struggling technology giant. But then the shares started falling, and were down for the third straight day on Wednesday.
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Industry analyst Patrick Moorhead, CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy, blasted the Intel board for the way they handled Gelsinger’s departure.
Intel Stock: CEO’s Sudden Exit
“I’m not an equities analyst, but I told you so,” he said in a LinkedIn post. “This one was so easy to predict. Board ghosts the Intel Corporation CEO without an explanation or replacement and the stock plummets.”
Gelsinger was reportedly forced out by the board which had lost confidence in his ability to turn things around at the struggling chip company, according to Bloomberg. Intel named two interim CEOs, David Zinsner, Intel’s chief financial officer, and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, CEO of Intel Products. The company could not immediately be reached for comment for this story.
Intel stock slumped amid growing questions about what happens next, especially at a time when Intel is grappling with stiffer competition from rivals led by Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD).
Intel investors have been left in the dark, Moorhead argued.
“Investor’s only thoughts are what bad happened?” he wrote. “Who can fill Pat’s shoes? I talk to all of Intel’s largest customer’s executives. No one is cheering. The company needs to find a solid replacement, and fast.”
Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes said “the fact that CEO Pat Gelsinger was leaving Intel wasn’t a surprise, but maybe the timing was.”
“The announcement at first prompted some short covering likely on thoughts that this move could lead to a new plan that creates more shareholder value (cuts, asset sales, etc.), but we took the news as a modest negative,” he said in a Monday note.
Intel stock shed 2.3% to close at 21.96 on Wednesday. The shares have shed nearly 9% this week, plunging well below the stock’s 50-day moving average. Intel’s Relative Strength rating dipped further to 13, down sharply from 96 a year ago, according to IBD MarketSurge.
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