Intel's profit warning follows a profit warning

By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published November 13, 2008, 11:28 AM

It's being called the "economic Katrina," and now there are signs that it has officially made landfall. After already preparing investors for bad news, Intel yesterday took the unusual step of proclaiming the news will actually be worse.

The first clear signs of an approaching financial maelstrom for Intel came as early as last April, when the typical seasonal downturn in revenue extended into double-digit percentages. Something was wrong -- demand from businesses and consumers alike was falling demonstrably, and low-margin businesses such as flash memory were already feeling a serious squeeze.

Last month, fears of the economic storms strength were confirmed, triggering Intel to adjust its revenue outlook sharply downward. But that was October; and in one month's time alone, the news for the company has gone from "worse" to "horrific:" Yesterday, after the close of stock trading, Intel adjusted its revenue forecast for this year's fourth quarter lower once again -- with Q4 not even half-over.

While Intel had been readying itself for $10.5 billion in revenue for the quarter, plus or minus $400 million, now it's expecting the number to be more like $9.0 billion, plus or minus $300 million -- a plunge of over 14%. Margins will be pinched lower, to 55% from an anticipated 59%, as prices drop in an effort to resurrect demand.

"Revenue is being affected by significantly weaker than expected demand in all geographies and market segments," Intel reported late yesterday. "In addition, the PC supply chain is aggressively reducing component inventories." In other words, in anticipation of lower sales that PC manufacturers and OEMs are already seeing the first signs of, they're ordering much fewer CPUs and motherboards. While those manufacturers will feel the bad tide come December, Intel is feeling it now.

While you might think the news would trigger a stock selloff, there really isn't much room for Intel to be sold off right now. At less than $13.50 per share, it's already trading at 11-year lows, and many analysts are still saying the stock could be undervalued.

In fact, on the premise that a rising tide sinks all ships equally, Intel's bad news actually impacted AMD more negatively, trading down nearly 3% this morning at already historic lows of around $2.50 per share.

Comments

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"Undervalued"?

Ya think?

The market has a fire sale and everyone runs away. No wonder so many investors are in the financial situation they are in!

Yup, wait till the prices go back up and then buy! At least then you will know that it has value! LOL!

Yup, we anticipate no future market for computers or CPUs...
This is perhaps the most significant ad for buying their stock that has yet been developed! Buying after this and similar reporting drives the price down a bit more by reactive fools maybe the low price opportunity one would be waiting for! What an opportunity!

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This is very likely the FIRST intelligent thing you've said in your entire life.

Guess you've used it all up in one gargantuan spurt now - you'll have to wait until your next life. :) :) ;)

"Must be tiring lugging around that giant brain of yours, Mr. Dowd." (that commercial is just so... YOU)

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Fascinating!

It must be difficult to scurry about when the light is turned on and now feign support for something I say!

Especially when this is the same c0ckroach who maintained that Intel is "technologically bankrupt', implying that this would not be a good deal even if they were giving the stock away for free! After all, if Intel is indeed "technologically bankrupt" as you have maintained so eloquently (see: http://www.betanews.com/..._Opteron_era/1226607049 ), even when the market recovers, it would not be reasonable to assume that a "technologically bankrupt" company such as Intel could!

Duh!

It must be difficult trying to keep your emotional rants straight. But then, be it Sony or Intel or anything to do with the US (it ALL America's fault you see...LOL!), you once again prove that you have nothing logical nor worthwhile to say.

So, to summarize, the c0ckroach says: now is a good time to buy stock in a "technologically bankrupt" firm. And he then he says he agrees with me...

Despite the fact that I just happen to maintain the exact opposite reason to buy. Not only is Intel not technologically challenged, despite their earlier marketing error, they will do just fine leading the consumer product oriented CPU market.

But don't try to figure out what he means...he has no clue either.

Funny...the commercial that first comes to mind when I think of you is that of RAID.

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