DJ Merrill Upgrades Intel, Downgrades Rival AMD On Valuation
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Merrill Lynch upgraded Intel Corp. (INTC) and downgraded Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), primarily because of valuation.
As for Intel, analyst Joseph Osha remains concerned about excess manufacturing capacity and competitive pressure from Advanced Micro Devices, but he noted that the stock has fallen about 15% since the middle of July, vs. a virtually flat performance by the Philadelphia Exchange Semiconductor Index.
Osha established a $30 stock price target. The stock closed Tuesday down 20 cents at $24.48 but was up 45 cents, or 1.8%, at $24.93 in Instinet pre-open trading.
At the same time, Osha downgraded Advanced Micro Devices to neutral from buy. The stock closed Tuesday up 66 cents at $23, having gained more than 60% from its April low, and near Osha's price target of $25. It recently was down 2% at $22.55 in Instinet.
"The company continues to take market share in server processors but is not making any more headway in the notebook or desktop processor markets than we'd expected," Osha said.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 21, 2005 07:56 ET (11:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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