Buffett Brain · Research note
Score updated 22 Oct 2026 · analysis from 1 Jun 2026
INTC· Technology
Intel
Intel is a former monopoly now burning cash, with operating margins at negative 9.4 percent and revenue shrinking almost 10 percent a year.
Buffett fit
Weak fit
Owner
14
Durability
9
Management
48
Price
55
Score updated 22 Oct 2026 · analysis from 1 Jun 2026
Buffett's checklist
Each number against Buffett's bar, and where it ranks among Technology stocks in our database.
How much profit the business makes on each dollar invested in it. Higher is better.
What is left of each sale after the cost of making the product. A high number often means pricing power.
The cash the business earns for its owners, compared with the price of the whole company.
How fast sales grew each year over the last five years.
How many years of today's profit you pay for at today's price. Lower means cheaper.
How much the company owes compared with what it owns outright. Lower is safer.
The four pillars
How the business measures up on each of Buffett's four tests.
If I owned the whole company outright, I would not be happy. The business earned a negative of minus 2.8 percent over the trailing year, and even the five year figure is a thin 1.8 percent, well below what I could get from a savings account without the heartburn.
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Durability is the weakest part of this story, and the score of 9 out of 100 says so plainly.
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Management gets a middling 48, and I would call that generous given the results.
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There is no here, only a margin of danger. The stock trades at a negative trailing of roughly minus 193, which is just a fancy way of saying the company has no earnings to value it against, and the yield is negative at minus 0.82 percent.
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For and against
The strongest points on each side, with the numbers behind them.
In its favor
6- 1Still commands a scale advantage as one of very few firms owning leading edge fabrication, reflected in a current ratio of 2.31 that gives it room to fund operations.
- 2 of 35.4 percent shows the underlying product still sells above its direct manufacturing cost, so the franchise is not worthless.
- 3Balance sheet is moderate, with debt to equity at just 0.40, so the company is not yet at the mercy of its lenders.
- 4Liquidity is solid, with a current ratio of 2.31 meaning short term assets more than double short term obligations.
Concerns
7- 1The stock is not cheap despite the wreckage: trailing is negative at minus 193 and the yield is negative at minus 0.82 percent, so at 114.68 dollars you are paying for losses, not earnings.
- 2 is negative at minus 9.4 percent, meaning the core business loses money before financing and taxes are even considered.
- 3 is negative at minus 2.8 percent over the trailing year, and the five year figure is a feeble 1.8 percent, so capital is being destroyed rather than compounded.
- 4Revenue is shrinking at 9.6 percent a year, a sign the franchise is losing customers in both PCs and data centers.
Price history
$85.49+74.5%· 5-year return
Weekly closing prices. Touch or hover the line for a date.
The business
How the business works
Intel designs and manufactures the processors that run most of the world's personal computers and a large share of its data center servers, and it is one of the only American firms that still owns its own chip fabrication plants. Once those fabs printed money at very high margins, but today has slipped to 35.4 percent and the is actually negative at minus 9.4 percent, so the company is now spending more to run the business than it collects. Revenue has been shrinking at a 9.6 percent annual clip, which tells you customers are walking out the door faster than Intel can win them back.
How this analysis has moved
The call has held across 5 reviews.
Sep 27, 2026 → Oct 22, 2026
What other investors would say
The same company, judged by three other documented playbooks.
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