Intel kicked off the technology sector’s fourth-quarter earnings season Thursday, reporting better-than-expected profits of 40 cents US a share after markets closed.
That compared with 26 cents in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 29 per cent to $10.6 billion US.
Intel’s earnings are seen as an indicator of spending trends in the technology sector because its chips are widely used. (Intel)
Intel said shipments of personal computers grew more sharply than expected in the quarter, and it supplies the vast majority of PC microprocessors.
Many analysts had been expecting the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer to come out with earnings of 30 cents a share, excluding unusual items, and revenue of $10.2 billion US, an increase of 23 per cent over a year earlier.
Intel is closely watched as an indicator of trends in corporate and consumer spending on technology.
“Intel is a very key ingredient in that whole PC business,” said Kathryn Del Greco, investment adviser at TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice.
“That really is a very good litmus test for us in what we see from the end user, what the demand is for that product — and it’s such a very key bellwether in that sector.”
Some analysts have suggested Intel’s share price has been held back by legal problems. In November, the company agreed to pay rival AMD $1.25 billion US to settle lawsuits over antitrust and patent issues. It still faces an action launched last month by the Federal Trade Commission, accusing it of anticompetitive practices.
With files from The Canadian Press