Jefferies’ Top Crowded Semiconductor Short Positions: Top 10 Stocks

6. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q2 2024: 75

Shares Short % Of Outstanding: 2.75%

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is one of the biggest and oldest chip-manufacturing companies in the world. It is the dominant player in the global CPU market for consumer and data center use. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is also the largest US chip manufacturer, which has proven to be indispensable to its stability in 2024. The year has been one of the worst on record for the firm, with its shares being down 53% year to date. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) announced a dividend suspension earlier this year and laid off thousands of employees as a slow non-AI industry spurred by inflation and interest rates came right at a time when the firm was investing in advanced chip manufacturing. Right now, Intel Corporation’s (NASDAQ:INTC) narrative depends on its ability to successfully execute its 18A chip manufacturing technology and score industry orders for its contract chip manufacturing subsidiary. Any progress on these fronts could translate to tailwinds for the stock.

ClearBridge Investments mentioned Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“While the market environment clearly was a headwind in the third quarter, several of our large positions also faced challenging conditions, which negatively impacted results. In the information technology (IT) sector, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has come under additional pressure due to continued softness in the company’s core PC and server markets as well as concerns on the company’s longer-term competitive position. While Intel’s turnaround is not happening overnight, we are constructive on the outlook into 2025: the company’s product positioning should be much improved and it should be positioned to gain market share in a cyclical upswing in which it has strong earnings power. A somewhat adverse spending environment due to AI myopia has weighed on shares, but we still think the market is undershipping PCs and general servers following a COVID normalization period that saw demand get pulled ahead and then languish as companies froze IT budgets. The installed base is now getting older, and we expect a strong refresh cycle into next year. The delay is actually beneficial to Intel, whose product positioning will be all the more improved. While our investment case is not predicated on an M&A transaction, and we believe one is unlikely, the expression of interest in the company speaks to the value of the assets, which we think still trade at a meaningful discount to fair value.”