So now it is good news?
Stan
Tuesday January 15 8:22 PM ET
Intel's Revenues, Profits Top Forecasts
Intel surprises on the upside with $0.15 EPS in Q4 -
dailynews.yahoo.com
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. on Tuesday reported a 77 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings on an extended drop in demand for personal computers, but both profits and revenues of the No. 1 chipmaker topped analysts' forecasts amid a bounce in PC sales over the holidays.
Intel (Nasdaq:INTC - news) said it does not yet see any signs of an economic recovery and forecast first-quarter sales of $6.4 billion to $7.0 billion, implying revenue either flat or falling as much as 8.3 percent from the fourth quarter. The company also plans to cut capital spending in 2002 by 25 percent from $7.3 billion in 2001.
Still, Intel said it was putting the chipmaking capacity in place to be prepared when demand does resume, which Intel is not expecting until at least after the first quarter. The move to using larger, dinner-plate-sized wafers and to making chips with smaller line widths will also help to cut costs.
``Intel isn't saying when the economy picks up we're going to see a huge bounce, they're saying we're at these levels right now and you should expect normal seasonality,'' said Lehman Brothers analyst Dan Niles. ``That's just not what people want to hear.''
Intel shares fell as low as $33.71 in after-hours trade, after falling 16 cents to $34.68 in regular trading. Shares of Intel have soared 75 percent since an Oct. 2 low for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a proxy for the sector. That index, which includes Intel as a component, has gained about 57 percent in the same time period.
PROFITS, REVENUE TOP FORECASTS
Excluding acquisition-related items, Intel had a profit of $998 million, or 15 cents a share, down 62 percent from year-ago profit excluding acquisition-related costs of $2.63 billion, or 38 cents a share. Sales fell 20 percent to $6.98 billion from $8.7 billion.
On that basis, analysts had forecast Santa Clara, California-based Intel to earn 10 cents to 13 cents a share, with a mean profit forecast of 11 cents a share, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call. Sales were pegged at $6.84 billion.
Analysts expect Intel to report first-quarter profits of 12 cents, within a range of 9 cents to 15 cents, on sales of $6.53 billion, estimates that don't take into account Intel's guidance given on Tuesday, according to First Call.
Niles said after the conference call that he is not planning on changing his per-share profit estimates for 2002 or 2003, which are 67 cents and $1.00, respectively. |
