Intel to LOWER Prices and 4 Chip and Big Data Stocks on the Move

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) looks prepared to join the fight in reducing prices on its solid state drives in August, as SSD prices in general are already dropping steadily. VR-Zone reports that Intel is preparing notable price cuts across its consumer SSD lineups, even in its latest 330 series. The 320 series will have reductions to its higher-capacity drives, including a drop in cost for the retail version of the 300GB drive from $519 to $464, and the 600GB version going from $1,059 to $879.

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Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ:BRCM): Chip stocks are underperforming following Romit Shah at Nomura announcing his firm “cannot make a fundamental argument for being long any semiconductor stocks in today’s environment.” On a relative basis, Shah supports purchasing Apple component suppliers. Some chipmakers with a good deal of Apple exposure are CRUS, OVTI, SWKS, TQNT, BRCM. Deutsche ruled in an opposite direction on chip stocks Wednesday.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) is up only 0.17% year to date regardless of better YTD performance seen by other tech giants like Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) or Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Qualcomm and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) are trailing far behind, with Qualcomm trading notably lower at $54 testing its lower trend canal currently. Its stock hit a 52-week high at $68.87 and has lost around 18% in just the last quarter. Shares of the company traded down $0.70 (1.28%) recently at $53.67.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS): Semiconductor companies have had a difficult week due to recent reports from both Advanced Micro Devices and Applied Materials cautioning demand from China and Europe is slowing. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) has dropped more than 5% in the last week. According to Michael Splinter, Applied Materials’ chief executive, “Both China and Europe are quite weak. Both markets are worse than they were at this time last year.” The Paragon Report looks at investing potential in the Semiconductor Industry and supplies equity research on Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) and Rambus, Inc., whose shares traded up $0.13 (2.53%) recently at $5.26.

ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ:ARMH): Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) has almost been surpassed by Lenovo in PC sales. The more major story, however, regards flat PC demand while iPad sales climb, the anticipation surrounding Windows 8, and possible PC maker defections from Intel to ARM Holdings. Shares of ARM traded down $0.05 (0.22%) recently at $22.59.

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