How Do You Bet Against Intel’s Red-Hot Stock Right Now?

Not long ago, it was hard to find people who were excited about Intel’s stock.

But these days, even skeptics are finding it difficult to look away, with President Donald Trump’s recent endorsement, a high-profile investment from Nvidia (NVDA), and rumors swirling about still more deals—leaving some investors wondering whether persistent concerns about the chipmaker’s business should be overlooked to get in on the action.

“We have been of the belief that Intel remains fundamentally challenged though have been terrified to short it,” Bernstein analysts wrote Thursday. “As much as we hate to admit it ‘Trump wants the stock to go up’ may in fact be a valid bull case for now (not one we are prepared to make but given everything that is happening we wouldn’t talk you out of it for now).”

Intel’s (INTC) stock jumped nearly 9% Thursday to close around $34. A report that Apple (AAPL) could be the the struggling chipmaker’s next big investor has extended a torrid run over the past week since the struggling chipmaker announced Nvidia’s $5 billion pledge. The shares have added roughly 70% of their value this year, though they remain well off their 2021 highs.

Seaport Research Partners analysts, who upgraded the stock to neutral from a bearish rating this week, said they expect the trend could continue—at least in the near term. “The stock is likely to be driven by follow-on investments,” they wrote, though signs of improving fortunes at Intel’s foundry business are also vital. (Seaport said it remained “cautious on the company’s longer-term fundamentals.”)

Nvidia’s deal did not include commitments to using Intel’s foundry, and a potential deal with Apple might not either. In a Thursday interview with CNBC, Deepwater Asset Management co-founder Gene Munster suggested that an investment in Intel might be more useful to Apple as a tool for currying favor with the Trump administration.

Wall Street analysts tracked by Visible Alpha have overwhelmingly preferred to stick to the sidelines with “hold” ratings, with targets suggesting they see an eventual pullback in the stock. The Street’s current consensus target, at $26, is roughly 25% below Thursday’s close, a measure of caution even as the shares have climbed.

For some analysts, it’s less about momentum than what the latest news flow yields. If Intel can demonstrate a capacity to make parts that meet companies’ needs for scale, speed and cost, Bernstein said, “they will have customers lined up around the block to use them, and if they can’t no customer in their right mind would ever put any meaningful volume with them.”

And “encouragement” from the government, according to Bernstein, wouldn’t help. “More than money,” they wrote, “Intel needs customers.”