Intel stock has been hit so badly in recent years that it has been cut off from a sharp downturn after President Donald Trump’s ever-evolving trade and tariff strategies. During this period, Intel has appointed a new executive and will have a more semiconductor-focused management experience next month.
Under former CEO Pat Gelsinger, his tenure lasted for nearly four years as of the end of November 2024, with Intel Stock pigeons 55%. Meanwhile, rival chip maker NVIDIA has been recording triple-digit annual percentages. Apart from the relative underperformance, perhaps the humiliation of Intel is that Nvidia replaced it at the Dow Jones industrial average at the end of 2024.
Now, Intel investors are seeing some sunshine on the bleakest days in the market. Actually, stocks have fallen less than 2% so far, which doesn’t sound surprising until you think NVIDIA shares are down 17% while the S&P 500 is down 9%. It seems that anyone who plans to sell its Intel stock in most cases already owns it.
A high-profile Intel stock buyer recently received a large chunk of stock: new CEO Lip-Bu Tan is obliged to buy $25 million in stock early in his term, which he fulfilled in early March. Gelsinger has developed the habit of buying Intel stocks to fall, but investors are impressed by Tan’s rapid stock buying. In fact, because Tan bought shares directly from Intel, not from the open market, he paid Intel more than the company paid in the short term.
When Gelsinger resigned on December 1, “restore investor confidence” was one of the main goals implemented by Intel’s independent chairman Frank Yeary, who served as interim executive chairman during the transition while the company was seeking a new CEO.
Four days after Gelsinger’s resignation, Yeary announced two instant additions to Intel’s board of directors in a press release: former president, Eric Meurice, former president and chairman of Chipmaking-Infipment-Inferipment-Meurice Asml Holding, and Steve Sanghi, chairman and interim CEO of Microchip Technology. Yeary praised them as “successful CEOs with a reliable record of creating shareholder value”. With Tan rejoining Intel’s board of directors – he resigned in August 2024 – expanding Intel’s board of directors to 14 directors.
Yeary, a board member of private investment firm Darwin Capital Advisors LLC, has not intended to retain an expanded board since 2009. In late March, Intel revealed in a regulatory filing that Omar Ishrak, Tsu-jae King Liu and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey would retire instead of seeking reelection at the annual meeting on May 6.
However, none of the three left directors had the highest executive experience in semiconductors. Ishrak is Iney’s former Intel chairman, chairman and CEO of Medtronic, who joined Intel’s board of directors in 2017. Liu, Dean and Roy W. Carlson professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and Jo. Her experience is rooted in academic, research and engineering. Lavizzo-Mourey became Intel director in 2018, is an expert in health policy and geriatric medicine, and is a former president and CEO of the charity Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“The board prioritizes regular refreshments to ensure they have the necessary skills and experience to oversee our business and create long-term shareholder value,” Intel wrote in an emailed statement. “Eric and Steve are highly respected leaders in the semiconductor industry, and their deep technical and executive experience make them an important addition to Intel’s board of directors. We thank Omar, Risa and Tsu-jae for their contributions during their service.”
Ishrak, Liu and Lavizzo-Mourey all joined Intel’s board when chaired by former company director Andy D. Bryant, who left Intel’s board in May 2020 for more than half a year, and the CEO began his tenure during Gelsinger’s tenure.
The Wall Street Journal recently pointed out that Tan does not have much time to achieve change and becomes an investor sentiment. He has a few weeks in at least the May meeting, which will change the board’s guards. Intel can announce major strategic changes soon.
Inside Scoop is a regular feature of Barron, covering stock transactions by company executives and board members (so known as insiders) as well as large shareholders, politicians and other important figures. Due to their internal identity, these investors must disclose stock transactions to the SEC or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed lin at ed.lin@barrons.com
