After struggling for many years with underperformance, Intel Corporation (INTC  ) has pulled an impressive turnaround.

Intel's stock rose 26% from August through September 2017. This gain edged out NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA  ), a competing tech company, which climbed 23%. However, it is still selling for a below-market price-to-earnings ratio of about 15.6, while NVDA trades at 57.8 times earnings. Thus, the question is whether or not Intel stock is on a new rally or not.

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Intel started transitioning towards a more fast-paced corporate culture. This seems to be paying off as more than $700 million in revenue has been added since 2016. Looking at a short-term chart from 2014 to 2017, Intel hit a climactic low during the flash crash in August of 2015, but saw a steady recovery afterwards that reached a high in 2016. In the third quarter of 2017, Intel experienced a reversal, where it saw several lower highs. Following this, buying volume rapidly increased and prices surged.

In fact, according to research by wealth management and investment banking firm Hilliard Lyons, Intel is an undervalued stock and is on track to gain almost 21% through the end of 2018. As of this summer, the forward P/E ratio for Intel was 30% below other chip manufacturers and 40% below the SPX as a whole. Hilliard Lyons derived a target price of $44 per share for Intel as of the end of 2018, raised from $41. In their report, Hilliard Lyons stated that they "believe Intel is leveraged well for future industry trends through the growing demand for data," and projected Intel to expand its total available market to $250 billion by 2021.

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Intel has recently been taken measures to shift its business focus to new technologies, such as cloud networks, self-driving automobiles, and other AI applications. A startup backed by Intel is even looking into the possibility of flying cars. These efforts seem to be worthwhile, particularly since AI technology is only expected to boom further in 2018.

Intel recently completed its acquisition of Mobileye (OTCMKTS: MBLY), which produces technology for autonomous vehicles. While many believe that Intel overpaid to acquire the company since it only reported a revenue of $358 million in fiscal year 2016, the acquisition will help Intel gain its footing in this market. Additionally, Intel's field programmable gate arrays (FGPAs), or semiconductor devices, are now used both in the public cloud network and in those of its clients, including in Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, and Audi is using the technology in their self-driving vehicle systems.