Intel's Stock Climbs After Bullish Analyst Call

Intel Corp. shares rose 1.4% in premarket trade Tuesday, after J.P. Morgan placed a bullish rating on the chipmaker, saying strength in its data center and Internet of Things businesses should offset continued lackluster PC demand. Analyst Harlan Sur moved to an overweight rating from a "not rated" designation, and placed a price target of $40 on the stock, which is 25% above Monday's closing price of $32.06. Sur said he believes the enterprise storage market is an "underappreciated growth engine" for Intel, as the company holds the No. 1 market share position in the $6 billion market. Sur is also confident that Intel's data center business will see strong revenue growth through the cloud, virtualization and high-performance computing markets. And while the PC business should remain weak during the first half of this year, Sur sees potential upside in the second half on improved demand from businesses and gaming. The stock has slipped 0.5% over the past three months through Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 4.3%.