Is it surprising to see Intel on fire now?

Intel (INTC) is on fire and making a moon shot today, jumping high by 7%. This is not commonly seen with blue-chip giant companies such as Intel. Now suddenly all the analysts start to upgrade Intel as if this were totally a surprise that Intel is raising the guidance on earnings, especially its business in the PC market. But not me. You may recall, I said to buy Intel early last year when those analysts were busy downgrading it and everyone was running away. I even made a bold prediction that Intel would double from the low $20s level. Well, it is still far from a double, but I feel more confident that it will become a reality.

I personally started to put money into Intel when it was below $20 and I started to talk about Intel back here in 2010. You can check that blog of mine here. Since I not only buy Intel via its stock for long-term dividends, I also bet heavily on it via its options which are leveraged in nature, I’m certainly very happy with my paper profits from such positions. Due to the leverage, it is not small at all. Now, if you haven’t bought Intel, is now a good time to buy it? Well, over the next 1-2 years, I think Intel will very likely shoot up for a double to around $45 or so and may then even challenge its old pre-bubble high around $80 eventually. But in the very near term, it is natural to expect that Intel may need to take a breath after such an explosive move. Technically I bet it will drift back down to test its support level around $27 in the next few weeks before resuming its bull run. In other words, you may get a better chance to buy Intel.