Intel shares gain for a second straight session on Thursday, company’s newer chips also affected by Spectre and Meltdown patch issues

According to a statement by Intel Corporation (INTC) earlier this week, issues with patches, which have been released to deal with Spectre and Meltdown security flaws, may cause data center computers equipped with Intels newer chips to reboot more frequently than usual.

Intel shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session on Thursday. The stock edged up 0.20% ($0.09) to $44.48, after touching an intraday high at $44.73, or a price level not seen since January 9th ($44.84).

In the week ended on January 14th the shares of the technology company lost 3.35% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a third consecutive period of decrease.

The stock has pared its loss to 3.64% so far during the current month, following a 2.94% surge in December. The latter has been the third gain out of four months.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NASDAQ-listed tech giant rose 22.50% following another 5.28% surge in 2016.

Navin Shenoy, the executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group at Intel, said that the security-flaw fixing patches may lead to higher reboot rates than anticipated in processors such as Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Kaby Lake and Skylake.

According to Shenoy, the tech company has already released patches for 90% of the chips that came out during the past five years. However, in his view, “more work” still needs to be done.

Customers are to receive initial versions of fixes for the problematic patches during the upcoming week, Navin Shenoy also said.

On January 3rd security researchers disclosed a set of flaws, which could enable hackers to take advantage of sensitive information stored on almost every computing device that is equipped with chips by Intel, Advanced Micro Devices Inc as well as ARM Holdings. Earlier this month Intel confirmed that its chips had been affected by Spectre and Meltdown flaws.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Intel determined to what extent data center customers could be affected by the buggy patches. For example, regular tasks such as running website servers could be slowed down by 2% because of the patches. At the same time, on-line transactions at a stock brokerage could be slowed down by 4%, Intel said.

According to CNN Money, the 32 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Intel Corporation’s stock price, have a median target of $48.50, with a high estimate of $58.00 and a low estimate of $32.00. The median estimate is a 9.04% surge compared to the closing price of $44.48 on January 18th.

The same media also reported that 21 out of 38 surveyed investment analysts had rated Intel Corporation’s stock as “Buy”, while 10 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 3 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, today’s levels of importance for the Intel stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $44.53
R2 – $44.58
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $44.63
R4 (Long Breakout) – $44.79
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $44.97
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $45.04

S1 – $44.43
S2 – $44.38
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $44.33
S4 (Short Breakout) – $44.17
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $43.99
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $43.92

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Intel Corporation (INTC) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $43.51
R1 – $44.57
R2 – $45.91
R3 – $46.97
R4 – $48.04

S1 – $42.17
S2 – $41.11
S3 – $39.77
S4 – $38.44