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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (12244)	11/30/2004 2:38:02 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Intel seen likely to bump up quarterly sales goal Tue Nov 30, 2004 02:27 PM ET By Daniel Sorid SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Sales trends appear to be shifting in Intel Corp.'s favor in the fourth quarter after months of misfortune, with Wall Street expecting an upbeat business update from the world's largest chip maker this week. The Santa Clara, California-based company is on track to tie or break an all-time quarterly revenue record set a year ago, and analysts expect Intel to bump its financial forecasts to the higher end of a range it gave in October during a scheduled mid-quarter update after the market close on Thursday. Improvement would be welcome news for Intel (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) investors, who have bid down the stock by 29 percent this year following news of record-high chip inventories and a string of missteps, including product cancellations and a recall. Moreover, Intel's communications business, which supplies memory and other chips for cellular phones and networking equipment, is still losing money, and a widely promoted push into television chips was canceled. Five Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters said Intel's core business of selling microprocessors to desktop and notebook computers will push revenue to the higher end of Intel's most recent revenue forecast. Intel does not provide earnings forecasts. Also, the company's updated Xeon chip for computer servers, which has a feature that allows it to work with the vast amounts of computer memory, is selling well, analysts say. "It looks like we are shaping up for a reasonably good consumer holiday PC buying season," said Krishna Shankar, an analyst with JMP Securities, adding that Xeons sales were strong. Four of the five analysts polled expect Intel to target revenues at the higher end of its most recent forecast of $8.6 billion to $9.2 billion, while one analyst expected the chip maker to reaffirm its forecast or raise its mid-point slightly. None expect Intel to raise the high end of the range. JP Morgan analyst Christopher Danely said in a note to clients that the strength comes mostly from strong demand for Intel's notebook microprocessors. The company's Centrino brand, a bundle of three Intel chips designed for wirelessly connected portable PCs, remains a healthy source of profits for the chip maker. Smith Barney analyst Glen Yeung pointed in a research note to signs of strength from the electronics industry that suggest Intel will be largely optimistic in its update. He pointed in part to Taiwan's Compal Electronics Inc. (2324.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) , the second-largest maker of made-to-order notebook computers, which he said has indicated that notebook shipments would grow more than 15 percent from the third quarter. Yeung also pointed to signs that the chip inventory glut is finally easing, including what he said were shortages of Intel processors in the hands of distributors before Thanksgiving. There are other signs that the final three months of the year remain kind to Intel. Last week, a senior executive of fellow microprocessor supplier Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) told Reuters that sales had recovered quickly after a one-week lull around the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 2. Also, Dell Inc. (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said Internet traffic to its U.S. consumer Web site was up more than 60 percent from the same period last year. And in a new report, the research firm iSuppli observes that a vital correction is underway after inventories skyrocketed to $1.62 billion in the third quarter. Whether or not Intel confirms Wall Street's enthusiasm, it could very well break a quarterly revenue record -- $8.74 billion reached in last year's fourth quarter -- and is almost certain to grow revenue for the the third quarter in a row. Intel kept the bar relatively low when it issued its revenue forecast in October: a 2 percent to 9 percent quarter-to-quarter growth rate compared with average fourth-quarter growth of around 10 percent. "Intel now is in the mode of underpromising and overdelivering," Shankar said.