We recently published a list of 10 Trending AI Stocks to Watch in September. Since Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) ranks 8th on the list, it deserves a deeper look.

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said while talking to CNBC in a latest program that since 1990, the market on average gains about 18% between the last rate hike and the first rate cut. However, during the 30 days after the first rate cut, the market historically “tread water,” gaining less than “one half of one percent.”

“Most of the action is below surface however, in the sectors, areas where a lot of the leaders be in the defensive areas but I have to add technology in there because investors don’t want to be giving up on the growth,” Stovall said.

Stovall pointed to another important historical data point regarding election years. He said that usually August and September are slow months in the stock market, but during election years the trend shifts to September and October, with markets historically rebounding in November and December once the uncertainty around the election subsides. The analyst recommended investors to position for a post-election rally which he believes buoys growth stocks.

For this article, we chose the top 10 AI stocks currently on investors’ radar following important news, earnings and analyst ratings. With each stock, we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 75

Research firm Erste recently downgraded Intel, citing increased competition from AMD.

Erste analysts said AMD has become very competitive thanks to CEO Lisa Su’s hardware and software goals. They also highlighted the increasing demand for AMD’s data center GPUs like MI300x.

The analysts believe Intel’s valuation compared to its estimated 2024 earnings is higher than that of its peer group.

Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) shares recently saw a bloodbath following the company’s weak Q2 results and disappointing guidance. The results show the AI growth everyone was talking about won’t come in cheap. Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) expects its gross margin in the third quarter to decline to 34.5% from 38.7% reported in the second quarter, which was a significant decline from the company’s expectation of 43.5%.

While Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) has suspended its dividend and announced massive layoffs, its problem of inventory won’t be resolved anytime soon. Intel has 137 days of inventory, worth over $11.2 billion. This is much higher than the industry average of 90 days. Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC)  has close to $52 billion in long-term debt and analysts believe its cost-cutting measures along with AI growth initiatives won’t let it fix this problem soon. S&P Global recently put the stock’s credit rating on “watch” saying:

“While these cost-cutting measures, including significant capital expenditure reductions, could alleviate some near-term cash-flow-generation challenges, it is unclear whether these steps will be sufficient to maintain its business competitiveness and enable healthy growth.”

Raymond James said in a report after earnings that Intel’s margin issues are expected to continue until 2025. AI PC growth has become a larger headwind for margins, as the higher cost of external wafers offsets modest average selling price premiums.

Amid these factors, investors are better off looking for other AI stocks and avoid Intel for now until there’s visibility on how exactly Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) would resolve its core problems.

Ariel Global Fund stated the following regarding Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“Alternatively, several positions weighed on performance. One of the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturers by revenue, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), underperformed in the period on news of a longer than expected turnaround in profitability within the Foundry business. This was exacerbated by disappointing near-term guidance due to a weakening demand environment signaling an extended replacement cycle. We view the quarter as a temporary trough that should dissipate as we see signs of a cyclical recovery for personal computers (PCs) and central processing units (CPUs), driven by the Windows 11 upgrade. In our view, the market is overlooking the progress Intel is making to advance its manufacturing process. Not to mention, the company’s efforts to serve as a viable second source foundry partner of leading-edge silicon. We believe the separation of the design and manufacturing businesses will be a key catalyst in unlocking improved financial performance while also enhancing the competitiveness of the foundry business.”

Overall, Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) ranks 8th on Insider Monkey’s list titled 10 Trending AI Stocks to Watch in September. While we acknowledge the potential of Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than INTC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These Stocks.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.