Jim Cramer backs the stock of Intel despite Thursday’s unexpected leadership change at the chipmaker.
Looking past ousted Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s personal issues, Intel’s stock is too cheap at these levels, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday.
Shares of the chipmaker slid 2.38 percent on Thursday after Krzanich resigned, effective immediately, for having what the company called a „consensual relationship with an Intel employee.“
The relationship violated Intel’s strict non-fraternization policy, which forbids managers from having personal relations with any of their employees.
But the affair didn’t matter to Cramer.
„What matters to me is that the stock is now too cheap to be ignored because at the same time they released [the] Krzanich [news], they also told you that business was better than expected thanks to strong growth across all segments,“ the host of „Mad Money“ said Thursday. „The stock looks good to me.“
Bob Swan, Intel’s former executive vice president and chief financial officer, is currently serving as interim CEO.
Earlier on Thursday, Cramer said that while he was „stunned“ by the news, he was confident that others could continue to fuel Intel’s growth.
The old-line technology giant’s first-quarter earnings report beat analysts‘ top- and bottom- line expectations. Earnings rose 32 percent year-over-year, boosted by growth in Intel’s data-focused segment, the Data Center Group.
The Data Center Group, which builds processors for artificial intelligence, data centers, the cloud and the internet of things, saw 24 percent year-over-year revenue growth and accounted for nearly half of Intel’s total first-quarter revenue.
„Our Q1 results demonstrated continued momentum in our transformation from a PC-centric company to a data-centric company,“ Swan, who was still CFO at the time, told investors in the first-quarter conference call.
That transformation is what gives Cramer faith in Intel’s future, with or without Krzanich.
When the negatives start to surface in otherwise powerful stories, „that’s not the time to run,“ the „Mad Money“ host said. „That’s the time to start buying.“
„Not all at once. Not a stake in the ground saying, ‚This is it. It won’t go lower,'“ he said. „When you get to levels where it looks like it’s all over but the shouting, when everyone else is giving up, that’s when you know that your conviction will begin to pay off.“
