Intel Corp’s third-quarter numbers show the company is getting better at doing more with less in the toughest stretch for the personal computer industry in nearly a decade.
The world’s No. 1 microprocessor maker said on Tuesday that profit and sales both fell 8 percent in the July to September period, as the company was hurt by sluggish demand from businesses and lower prices for its chips. Intel has insisted things are improving, however, and offered better-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter, sending its shares up nearly 5 percent.
As the first major technology company to report third-quarter earnings, Intel’s numbers will lend insight into the strength or weakness of PC makers’ demand for new chips. What the figures don’t show, though, is whether PC companies are stocking up on chips to replenish low supplies, or whether they expect especially brisk sales of computers to consumers and businesses. That will begin to play out in the coming weeks, as the holiday season gets under way with a new edition of Windows available on Oct. 22.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Intel said after the market closed that its net income was US$1.9 billion, or US$0.33 per share. Analysts expected US$0.28 per share, a poll by Thomson Reuters showed. Last year, Intel’s profit was US$2.0 billion, or US$0.35 a share, in the year-ago period.
Sales were US$9.4 billion, better than Wall Street’s forecast of US$9.0 billion.
Intel had bumped up Wall Street’s expectations twice. The first time was in August, when it raised its guidance, and the second was last month, when its CEO Paul Otellini predicted that PC sales could defy predictions by growing this year, which would avert the first year-over-year sales decline since 2001.
Still, the company’s latest numbers show the recession continues to take a toll, even as Intel gets more skillful at wringing more out of its business.
The company’s gross profit margin was 57.6 percent of revenue.
Its previous forecast was for 51 percent to 55 percent of revenue, and in the last quarter the figure was 50.8 percent of revenue.
Gross margin is especially important for a manufacturing-intensive company such as Intel because it measures how well a company is controlling its costs. Making computer chips can be prohibitively expensive.
For the fourth quarter, Intel forecast sales of US$10.1 billion, plus or minus US$400 million. Analysts expected US$9.5 billion.
Intel shares jumped US$0.96, 4.7 percent, to US$21.45 in extended trading. Before the earnings report the stock had closed at US$20.49, up US$0.09 on the day.
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
EXCEPTIONS: Some people could be allowed to reclaim citizenship for humanitarian reasons or because of their contributions to the nation, the interior ministry said Taiwan would soon unveil new rules banning Taiwanese residents of China from reclaiming their citizenship if they participated in Beijing’s propaganda activities, the Ministry of the Interior said on Monday. The measures were drafted following President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 directive that the government counter China’s espionage and influence campaigns aimed at undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty, the ministry said in a preview of the rules. The changes would affect Taiwanese who lost their citizenship after becoming permanent residents of China or obtaining passports issued by China, it said. Under the measures, former Taiwanese nationals living in China who had made statements denying the
RSS