Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) lost less last week than it did in the first week of the year, but the company couldn’t shake its ranking as the worst performing stock among the 30 stocks that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Intel shares dipped about 2.1% in the past week, on top of a 3.08% drop in the first week of 2018. The first two weeks of the year have cost the stock about 6.3% of its value.
The second-worst performer for 2018 among the Dow 30 is Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), down about 2.5%, followed by Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), down just over 2%, and Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV), down about 0.7%. These are the only four stocks that posted share price losses last week.
The Dow posted an all-time high of 25,810.43 on Friday and closed the week at 25,803.19, up about 540 points (about 2.1%). The index gained about 1.9% in the first week of the year.
Intel tried to change the subject at last week’s CES 2018 show in Las Vegas. CEO Brian Krzanich touted the company’s efforts in self-driving (autonomous) car technology, a capability it acquired when it purchased Mobileye last year. The semiconductor giant has settled on a theme of building passenger trust in driverless cars.
It was a good try, but the story is not compelling enough to push aside the two major security flaws that have been included with every Intel central processor for the past 20 years or so. To make matters worse, the company issued a firmware patch for the issues last week but it caused unexpected problems.
That led to Intel telling some customers to use patches from their system vendors and to refrain from using the Intel patch for now. Reported slowdowns from software patches from Microsoft have not helped Intel’s cause.
Intel shares dropped to a low of $42.44 on Wednesday before recovering to close the week at $43.24. Shares lost $1.50 (about 3.4%) for the week. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $33.23 to $47.64, and the 12-month consensus price target is $47.08, unchanged from the prior week. The low target is $32 and the high target is $58.
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