Intel CEO change gives investors buying opportunity in AMD, Jim Cramer says

CNBC’s Jim Cramer pounded the table on one of his favorite semiconductor companies after shares dipped on news of a leadership change at one of its top rivals, Intel.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices dropped almost 4% after Intel announced that it will replace its chief executive in a month. Intel stock rallied 7% as investors welcomed the news that current CEO Bob Swan would step down to make way for Pat Gelsinger, an Intel alum who heads VMware, to take over the role in February.

“As much as Intel needs a change, what matters here is that you’re now getting a chance to buy Intel’s more agile rival, AMD, down more than three bucks, for something that might not even happen: a turn at Intel within the next three years,” the “Mad Money” host said. “Gelsinger did a good job at VMware, but Intel doesn’t really need an old Intel hand. It needs someone new, young, hungry who can shake up the culture, if not blow it up entirely.”

In AMD, buyers would be getting a piece of a $110.4 billion company whose stock nearly doubled last year. Stock in Intel, a larger player with a $233.4 billion market cap, declined more than 16% in 2020 as the company reported a delay in new chips under development and lost a key partnership with Apple.

Prior to those woes, companies like AMD and Samsung began scooping up market share from Intel.

Cramer, who has applauded AMD CEO Lisa Su for her stewardship of the graphic chips producer, also reiterated his love for Nvidia, a $335 billion semiconductor player.

“I’d much rather buy the stock of a company that’s beating Intel to a pulp, AMD,” Cramer said. “Under Lisa Su’s incredible leadership, they’ve gone from an also-ran semiconductor — always second fiddle to Intel — to being the one that makes better chips.”

The comments came after a mixed day of stock trading on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the session down 8 points, or about 0.03%, at 31,060.47. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both extended their gains from Tuesday, rising 0.23% to 3,809.84 and 0.43% to 13,128.95, respectively.

The three averages remain in the red week to date.

Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia.

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