Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : EARNINGS REPORTING - surprises, misses & more -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (680)	7/13/2001 5:10:21 AM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 762

AMD ($22.75) Profits Nosedive; Shares Rise By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Business Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD - news) barely beat Wall Street's dramatically lowered expectations for its second-quarter earnings Thursday and gave a grim outlook for the current quarter. Chief executive Jerry Sanders said he believed, however, that business will pick up significantly in 2002. In the three-month period that ended July 1, AMD had a net profit of $17.4 million, or 5 cents a share, 92 percent lower than the earnings of $207.1 million, or 60 cents a share, in the comparable period of 2000. Sales slipped 16 percent, to $985 million from $1.17 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call were expecting AMD to earn 4 cents a share this quarter. That estimate was 27 cents a share before AMD warned last week that it was being squeezed far more than expected by the weak demand for flash memory - used in devices like digital cameras and cell phones - and a surprisingly intense price war with Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) in the market for PC microprocessors. Perhaps believing that AMD had no more bad news to give, investors pushed its shares up $1.58, more than 7 percent, to close at $22.70 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) before the earnings announcement. The stock was up another 16 cents in the extending trading session. Sunnyvale-based AMD found encouraging signs in the second quarter, including its record sales of 7.7 million PC processors, and said it gained market share - albeit at a steep price. ``We're not going to be pushed out of the ring by a sumo wrestler,'' Sanders said, referring to Intel. ``We will not lose market share.'' Executives said they believe PC sales growth will be flat from 2000, less than the low-single-digit increases some have predicted. With demand also weak for AMD's flash memory products, the company projects that sales could decline in the current quarter between 10 and 15 percent, possibly leading to an operating loss. Analysts were expecting operating earnings of 11 cents a share in the current quarter, down from 64 cents in the same period of 2000. A return to ``solid profitability'' should come in the fourth quarter, AMD said. ``This is the sharpest downturn I've ever seen,'' Sanders said, though he expressed confidence that AMD is keeping costs down and investing in the right technologies to come out healthy. ``2002 should be a much more normal year,'' he said. ``Our long-term earnings potential is undiminished.'' More insight into the state of the semiconductor industry is expected to come Tuesday as Intel makes its quarterly earnings report. Characteristically, Sanders took several swipes at his rival, saying Intel had to make aggressive price cuts on its high-end Pentium 4 chips because it is a ``dud'' and a ``lousy product.'' ``You ought to tell them that,'' he told analysts. ``You ought to send them home!'' For the first six months of 2001, AMD posted a net profit of $142.2 million, or 43 cents a share, on sales of $2.17 billion. That was off from last year's marks of $396.5 million, or $1.17 cents a share, on revenue of $2.26 billion. -