NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Intel (INTC) - Get Report were falling 2.1% to $33.83 Wednesday after Bernstein Research downgraded the chipmaker to "underperform" from "market perform."

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon questioned Intel's above-market PC growth while noting that the company is "absolutely slaughtering" rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) - Get Report . Rasgon wrote that "inventory builds in the 1H are normally followed by channel inventory drains in the 2H. And it is here where we find cause for concern."

The analyst continued, "Far from draining channel inventory in 2H14, Intel's Q3 results and implied Q4 outlook suggest channel inventories will continue to build into the second half of the year, an event we have not seen in years and years. This is not necessarily inconsistent with Intel's own statements (they have indicated they are replenishing the channel in front of a "normal" consumer sell-through season)."

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TheStreet Ratings team rates INTEL CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate INTEL CORP (INTC) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, reasonable valuation levels and solid stock price performance. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

INTC's revenue growth trails the industry average of 18.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 7.9%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share.

INTC's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.23 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.39, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.

The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Compared to other companies in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry and the overall market, INTEL CORP's return on equity exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.

Investors have apparently begun to recognize positive factors similar to those we have mentioned in this report, including earnings growth. This has helped drive up the company's shares by a sharp 32.97% over the past year, a rise that has exceeded that of the S&P 500 Index. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, INTC should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: INTC Ratings Report

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