Intel shares fall for a second straight session on Tuesday, tech company acquires Israeli AI startup Habana Labs

Intel Corp (INTC) said earlier this week that it had acquired Habana Labs, an artificial intelligence company based in Israel, in a deal valued at nearly $2 billion.

Intel shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session on NASDAQ on Tuesday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since December 3rd. The stock went down 0.69% ($0.40) to $57.30, after touching an intraday low at $57.14, or a price level not seen since December 12th ($56.61).

Shares of Intel Corporation have risen 22.10% so far in 2019 compared with a 27.35% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Intel’s stock went up 1.67%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

In June, Habana Labs said it had launched “Gaudi”, an AI Training Processor for data centers, which is capable of increasing throughput up to four times compared to systems built with equivalent number of graphics processing units.

“Habana turbo-charges our AI offerings for the data center with a high-performance training processor family and a standards-based programing environment to address evolving AI workloads,” Navin Shenoy, general manager of Intel’s data platforms group, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Established in 2016, Habana Labs will still remain based in Israel, while its Chairman Avigdor Willenz will become a senior adviser to Intel Corp.

Habana will continue functioning as an independent business unit, headed by its present management team, and will report to Intel’s data platforms group.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 32 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Intel Corporation’s stock price, have a median target of $60.00, with a high estimate of $75.00 and a low estimate of $38.00. The median estimate represents a 4.71% upside compared to the closing price of $57.30 on December 17th.

The same media also reported that at least 17 out of 42 surveyed investment analysts had rated Intel Corporation’s stock as “Hold”, while 13 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 7 analysts had recommended selling the stock.