Intel: Is It Dead Money?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Last month, Richard Saintvilus, contributor to TheStreet, published two excellent articles on Intel (INTC).

While I want to agree with everything Saintvilus said in The Other Intel: Investors Ignore the Good and Intel Is the Stock for the Intelligent Investor, I have to check my instinct.

Over the last two weeks, INTC shares shed roughly 5%. Due to nothing but luck, I got out before the decline at about breakeven. Factor in dividends and covered call income and I actually came out ahead.

After considering bullish arguments, I have to ask, as INTC stagnates and now dips, do we have a buying opportunity or a dead stock?

Intel: Like the City of Buffalo?

Odd comparison, I know. But bear (or bull) with me.

I grew up in Niagara Falls, a stone's throw from Buffalo. Today, Buffalo is not as bad as its critics brand it. But, it's certainly not the thriving metropolis it could be.

Many years ago, politicians made two independent decisions that sealed Buffalo's fate. Rich Stadium, where the Bills play, was located in suburban Orchard Park, not downtown Buffalo. And the University of Buffalo's main campus was situated in another suburb, Amherst, not downtown Buffalo. Instead, downtown got a modest, but serviceable baseball stadium for the city's Triple A club, the Bisons.

Ask anybody. Even people like Buffalo born-and-bred The Goo Goo Dolls and the great Ani DiFranco. They love Buffalo and give back to the community; however, they know that, with some foresight and better planning, the city could be as spectacular as Toronto to the north.

Along similar lines, Intel probably could be known as "The Official Chip Supplier of Apple Products." Or something of the sort.

Hindsight makes us all geniuses; however, it's clear -- while Apple (AAPL) was innovating, Intel was dropping the ball. Instead of positioning itself as Apple's exclusive partner -- and, thus, a leader in mobile -- Intel hitched to Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows OS and the litter of spare hardware makers who license it.

If Intel had cemented that relationship with Apple a few years ago, "Intel Inside" might still mean something exciting to the consumer.

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