Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

Intel Beats Estimates for Q4 2012

Intel’s results for the fourth quarter of 2012 just crossed the wires, and they’re good.

Earnings on a per-share basis were 48 cents, beating the 45 cents that analysts had expected. Sales were $13.5 billion, right in the sweet spot of the consensus.

Intel shares finished the day up by 57 cents, or more than 2 percent. They’re also rising in after-hours trading on the news. Just after market close, they were trading up 39 cents, or more than 1 percent.

For the quarter and year ahead, Intel said it expects sales of $12.7 billion, plus or minus a half-billion dollars. In Q1 2013, it expects a gross margin of 58 percent, plus or minus a few points. For the full year, it expects sales to grow in the low-single-digits percentage range, and gross margins around 60 percent. It expects to spend $13 billion, plus or minus a half billion, on capital expenditures during the year.

Update: The revenue guidance is in the lower range of the consensus so the shares are starting to fall. It’s now down by about 3 percent as of 4:35 pm ET.

Here’s the full text of Intel’s release. I’ll have more as I sort through the highlights. Also, the conference call with analysts will be starting in about an hour. I’ll be liveblogging.

Intel Reports Full Year Revenue of $53.3 Billion, Net Income of $11.0 Billion
Generates $18.9 Billion in Cash from Operations

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 17, 2013 – Intel Corporation today reported full-year revenue of $53.3 billion, operating income of $14.6 billion, net income of $11.0 billion and EPS of $2.13. The company generated approximately $18.9 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $4.4 billion, and used $4.8 billion to repurchase 191 million shares of stock.
For the fourth quarter, Intel posted revenue of $13.5 billion, operating income of $3.2 billion, net income of $2.5 billion and EPS of 48 cents. The company generated approximately $6 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion and used $1.0 billion to repurchase 47 million shares of stock.
“The fourth quarter played out largely as expected as we continued to execute through a challenging environment,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “We made tremendous progress across the business in 2012 as we entered the market for smartphones and tablets, worked with our partners to reinvent the PC, and drove continued innovation and growth in the data center. As we enter 2013, our strong product pipeline has us well positioned to bring a new wave of Intel innovations across the spectrum of computing.”

Full-Year 2012 Key Financial Information and Business Unit Trends

· PC Client Group had revenue of $34.3 billion, down 3 percent from 2011.

· Data Center Group had revenue of $10.7 billion, up 6 percent from 2011.

· Other Intel architecture group had revenue of $4.4 billion, down 13 percent from 2011.

Q4 Key Financial Information and Business Unit Trends

· PC Client Group revenue of $8.5 billion, down 1.5 percent sequentially and down 6 percent year-over-year.

· Data Center Group revenue of $2.8 billion, up 7 percent sequentially and up 4 percent year-over-year.

· Other Intel® architecture group revenue of $1.0 billion, down 14 percent sequentially and down 7 percent year-over-year.

· Gross margin of 58 percent, 1.0 percentage point above the midpoint of the company’s expectation of 57 percent.

· R&D plus MG&A spending $4.6 billion, in line with the company’s expectation of approximately $4.5 billion.

· Tax rate of 23 percent, below the company’s expectation of approximately 27 percent.

Business Outlook
Intel’s Business Outlook does not include the potential impact of any business combinations, asset acquisitions, divestitures or other investments that may be completed after Jan. 17.

Full-Year 2013

· Revenue: low single-digit percentage increase.

· Gross margin percentage: 60 percent, plus or minus a few percentage points.

· R&D plus MG&A spending: $18.9 billion, plus or minus $200 million.

· Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles: approximately $300 million.

· Depreciation: $6.8 billion, plus or minus $100 million.

· Impact of equity investments and interest and other: net gain of approximately $100 million.

· Tax Rate: approximately 25 percent.

· Full-year capital spending: $13.0 billion, plus or minus $500 million.

Q1 2013

· Revenue: $12.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million.

· Gross margin percentage: 58 percent, plus or minus a couple percentage points.

· R&D plus MG&A spending: approximately $4.6 billion.

· Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles: approximately $75 million.

· Impact of equity investments and interest and other: net loss of approximately $50 million.

· Depreciation: approximately $1.7 billion.

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I think the NSA has a job to do and we need the NSA. But as (physicist) Robert Oppenheimer said, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you’ve had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”

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