For the better part of 2017, Dow Jones Industrial Average component Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) had not only failed to keep up with the broad market, but had spent the bulk of year in the red. That’s all changed since July though, with INTC stock gaining 16% from the end of June.
What gives for this once-iconic tech stock that had fallen off the radar and was replaced by more compelling story stocks like Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)? As it turns out, Intel hasn’t been lost is a sea of irrelevancy.
It’s simply been biding its time, working on some new technologies that would pump the Intel share price up.
It’s working.
Here are the three big technology developments that are going to drive INTC stock forward in the foreseeable future, even more than they already have.
Coffee Lake Gaming Processor
Earlier this year when AMD unveiled its new Ryzen processors, fans of high-performance computers and PC video gamers in particular were enthused about its potential. Though Intel had similar CPUs available, they didn’t offer them anywhere near the prices Advanced Micro Devices was offering the Ryzen chip. The new Coffee Lake gaming processor changes the gaming CPU landscape, and should be more than affordable enough.
The new Coffee Lake (just a code name, by the way) CPU lineup’s top performer is a six-core beast capable of sustained operating speeds of 3.7 gigahertz, and turbo-boosted peak speeds of 4.7 gigahertz, which is more than enough to handle any video games on the market today. And, with a sticker price of only $380 (or less, for lesser versions) would-be Ryzen buyers now have a choice to make.
Of course, Coffee Lake processors are great for non-gaming needs too.
Secure Device Onboarding for Enterprise
For most owners and non-owners of INTC stock alike, the news went right over their heads because they just weren’t sure what it meant or why it was marketable. Make no mistake though. Intel’s new secure device ‘onboarding’ platform is a big deal.
In short, the Secure Device Onboarding service (or SDO) is a means of deploying and activating Internet of Things devices in a matter of seconds rather than a matter of hours. While IoT is obviously the future, making and securing all the connections between millions of devices and the cloud has been a difficult and slow undertaking. Intel’s SDO changes all of this, giving hardware providers an option to remotely program and connect devices.
This option removes one of the key bottlenecks that’s been holding the advent of IoT back.
Tesla Partnership
Finally, it was only a couple of weeks ago NVDA shares suffered on news that AMD would be replacing NVIDIA as the provider of certain components of the autonomous-driving technology being developed by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). In the meantime, Intel appears to have edged out NVIDIA as the provider of the silicon-based brain of Teslas’ infotainment system.
Truth be told, there’s room for all three companies’ technologies in the popular electric cars. And, to tell another truth, even if Intel were to provide all the hardware for every aspect of Tesla’s battery-powered automobiles, it wouldn’t be a massive fiscal victory. It’s a high-profile moral victory all the same though, bringing Intel back into the autonomous car landscape where it can also (re)tout the fact that it now owns Mobileye, which is arguably still the big name in self-driving automobile technologies.
Oh, and as it turns out, Intel has been working with Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) since 2009 in the development of its Waymo self-driving vehicle effort.
Bottom Line for INTC Stock
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to say exactly how much or when any of these initiatives will bolster the top or bottom lines. On the other hand, there’s little doubt as to the competitive advantage Intel enjoys with all of them, setting the stage for solid growth in the foreseeable future. Though INTC stock may look and feel technically overbought right now, with a forward-looking P/E of only 12.7, with the three aforementioned developments on the table, there’s room for further upside.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter.
