Chipmaker Intel’s quarterly revenue surpasses expectation

Intel Corp, the world’s largest semiconductor maker, predicted higher second- quarter sales than some analysts had estimated as it ships new personal computer and server chips, and shortages of hard drives abate.

Sales in the current period will be $13.6bn (€10.35bn), plus or minus $500m, the company said last night.

Analysts on average had estimated revenue of $13.43bn, according to Bloomberg data. Sales were $13.03bn a year earlier. Intel is bringing to market updated chip designs, and its PC-maker customers are expanding their lines of slim Ultrabook computers, created to generate consumer interest in laptops, said Patrick Wang, an analyst at Evercore Partners.

In addition, the company’s new products for servers are helping boost profitability, he said.

Intel shares were little changed in late trading after the announcement. Earlier, they gained less than 1% to $28.47 at the close in New York. That left the shares up 17% this year.

Investors watch Intel’s earnings as a broad indicator of demand for desktop, server and laptop computers. Advanced Micro Devices, Intel’s main competitor in PC microprocessors, is scheduled to report first-quarter results later this week.

For the first quarter, Intel said net income was $2.74bn, or 53 cents a share, against $3.16bn, or 56 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose to $12.9bn.

Bloomberg