Intel (INTC) to Buy Granulate, Eyes Software Optimization Tools

Intel Corporation INTC has announced a deal to acquire Granulate Cloud Solutions Ltd for an undisclosed amount.

Based in Israel, Granulate develops real-time optimization software. The acquisition will help cloud and data center customers enhance compute workload performance and reduce infrastructure and cloud costs.

Intel invests in growth opportunities enabled by software, including artificial intelligence and security platforms and services. It aims to build a portfolio of software optimization tools with scalable capabilities to meet the burgeoning demand in the compute era.

Granulate’s approach to real-time optimization software complements Intel’s capabilities by helping customers achieve greater performance. Intel is committed to helping its customers ensure that they are right-sizing their compute clusters and cloud deployments.

Granulate’s autonomous optimization service enables cloud and data center customers to improve the performance of their deployments and reduce operational overhead and application costs.

As part of Intel, Granulate will be able to deliver autonomous optimization capabilities to more customers globally and rapidly expand its offering with the help of INTC’s software engineers.

Over the past year, Intel and Granulate have worked together under a commercial agreement to collaborate on workload optimization on Xeon deployments. Intel plans to rapidly scale Granulate’s optimization software, including across its data center portfolio.

The deal is expected to be closed in the second quarter of 2022.

Intel is benefiting from the growing demand in the Data Center Group, with strong server recovery in enterprise and government.

The stock has lost 23.2% in the past year against the industry’s growth of 33%.

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INTC currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Clearfield, Inc. CLFD is a better-ranked stock in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector, sporting a Zacks Rank #1. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has been revised upward by 20.5% over the past 60 days.

Clearfield delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 50.7%, on average. It has gained 109.4% in the past year.

Qualcomm, Inc. QCOM, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), is another solid pick for investors. The consensus estimate for current-year earnings has been revised upward by 12.2% over the past 60 days.

Qualcomm delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 12.2%, on average. It has appreciated 10.9% in the past year.

Sierra Wireless, Inc. SWIR carries a Zacks Rank #2. The consensus mark for current-year earnings has been revised upward by 237.5% over the past 60 days.

Sierra Wireless pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 58%, on average. The stock has returned 18% in the past year.

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