The rise in the company's shares on Wednesday came after reports that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (2330.TW, TSM) had approached Nvidia (NVDA), as well as fellow chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Broadcom (AVGO) to run Intel's (INTC) foundry business in a joint venture.
Megacap tech stocks more broadly led a cautious rebound in US markets on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closing the session 0.5% in the green, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 1.2%.
Shares in Intel (INTC) rose 4.6% on Wednesday, after Reuters reported about TSMC's (2330.TW, TSM) talks with other chipmakers to form a joint venture to take over the company's foundry business. This division is responsible for building chips for both Intel and third-party contractors.
Intel posted a net loss of $18.8bn (£14.5bn) in 2024, with the foundry segment seeing a total operating income loss of $11.6bn last year.
Intel had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK's request for comment at the time of writing.
The chipmaker's shares surged in after-hours trading and were up 10% pre-market open on Thursday morning, after Intel announced that had appointed Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO.
The chip industry veteran, who previously helmed Cadence Design Systems (CDNS), takes over from interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus. The duo succeeded former CEO Pat Gelsinger, who was ousted by Intel's board in late 2024.
Ben Barringer, global technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said: "This is a very interesting announcement and gives the company hope that it can be kept alive despite it continually losing market share to TSMC."
He said Tan "knows the market inside out and is very experienced".
"He also, until last year, sat on the board of Intel but resigned due to the strategic direction of the company," Barringer added. "It says a lot that the board has now brought him in to run the company, suggesting that it is looking for some sort of saviour. Tan is a highly respected individual, but he has his work cut out turning around the fortunes of Intel and making it competitive once again."
Software company Adobe (ADBE) fell 4.6% in after-hours trading, following the release of its latest results on Wednesday.
The stock was down despite Adobe's first quarter results coming in ahead of expectations. The company posted revenue of $5.71bn, besting estimates of $5.66bn and adjusted earnings per share of $5.08 exceeded forecasts of $4.97.
Quilter Cheviot's Barringer said that the "crucial thing with these sets of results is that Adobe is finally giving a bit more disclosure on artificial intelligence revenues and the impact that theme is having on the wider business."
Barringer highlighted that Adobe is currently generating $125m in revenues from artificial intelligence-related activities. "On its own that is fine, and the business does expect that to double next year, however, for a company that generates north of $23bn in revenue, it remains pittance," he said.
"The question around if Adobe is an AI winner or loser is continually asked, and given its market dominance and potential for disruption you would have to say it is more likely to be a loser," barringer added.
"Furthermore, there is a large threat looming with the public listing of Canva, the design software company, and the buzz that is going to generate in that market. Adobe will ultimately go through a bumpy period while that happens and attention is switched to a potentially more exciting investment case."
BOSS Spring/Summer 2025 runway during Milan Fashion Week, September 2024. ·dpa, dpa picture alliance
In the world of fashion, shares in Hugo Boss (BOSS.DE) were up 2.3%, after the luxury brand released its full-year results.
Group sales were up 3% at €4.3bn (£3.6bn) in 2024, though net profit was down 17% to €224m, with the company highlighting a growth operating expenses but said these had declined in the second half of the year with a greater focus on cost efficiencies.
Looking ahead for 2025, Hugo Boss warned of elevated macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, expecting business to be impacted by subdued consumer sentiment. As a result, the fashion brand anticipated that sales would be flat this year, ranging between €4.2bn and 4.4bn. However, the company expected earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to grow to between €380m and 440m.
Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) research analysts Michael Kuhn and Adam Cochrane reiterated their "buy" rating on the stock in a note on Thursday.
They said that while sales and gross profit came in ahead of consensus expectations in the fourth quarter, EBIT was only in-line with estimates due to impairment charges in its brick-and-mortar retail business. They said that the company's full-year profit guidance was essentially in line with estimates, though its proposed dividend of €1.40 per share for 2024, was ahead of expectations.
"After repeatedly disappointing market expectations, this might be enough to trigger a positive reaction today," they said. "The only negative bit is the FY25 top-line guidance, which implies flat sales at mid-point only."
Food delivery company Deliveroo (ROO.L) reported annual profit for the first time on Thursday, though shares sank nearly 6% as it offered a more downbeat outlook.
Deliveroo generated a profit of £2.9m ($3.75m) in 2024, compared to a loss of £31.8m in the previous year. However, Deliveroo founder and CEO Will Shu flagged that the "consumer environment remains uncertain".
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, pointed out that Deliveroo is selling its operations in Hong Kong to focus on more profitable markets, such as the UK and Ireland.
However, she said that this "leaves the company that bit more exposed to this part of Europe’s economic climate. Growth is already highly sluggish in the UK, and there are concerns that the harsh global trade winds blowing could knock recovery off course.
"Cautious consumers may be less inclined to shell out on expensive takeaways, and although Deliveroo has expanded into grocery deliveries which offers more resilience, it’s not going to be an easy path ahead and there are plenty of rivals already in this space."
