Intel's (INTC) New 52-Week High

After a long time in purgatory, Intel’s (INTC) shares hit a 52-week high of $24.46 today. The stock has not been at level since early 2006.

There is certainly some hope that PC sales will begin to move up at a quickening pace with Microsoft (MSFT) Vista now in the market for six months. And, server sales continue to do fairly well and companies store and send more data.

But, the real reason for the stock moving this far is the market’s perception that Intel rival AMD (AMD) is so badly wounded that it could take years for it to come back. Even its new Barcelona chip is being released with less computing power than the market expected. And, surveys of the server market indicate that Intel is taking back market share from its smaller competitor.

Intel is a prime example of a market leader that becomes dangerous when threatened. It may have taken awhile but the results were devastating for AMD.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]