Intel's Earnings Boosted by Data-Center, PC Demand
January 23 2020 - 4:53PM
Dow Jones News
By Asa Fitch
Intel Corp. posted strong fourth-quarter earnings that benefited
from an upswing in personal-computer shipments and robust demand
for chips to power data centers.
The chip maker Thursday said adjusted earnings per share in the
quarter rose to $1.52 from $1.28 in the year-prior period. Analysts
surveyed by FactSet were expecting $1.25 per share on an adjusted
basis.
Sales in the period rose 8% to $20.21 billion, beating the
$19.23 billion analysts had expected.
Intel's sales in recent quarters have benefited from strong
demand for cloud-computing as companies migrate from owning servers
to renting data storage and processing horsepower. That has driven
cloud-computing vendors to build up big data centers, the
chip-hungry server farms where the data is stored. Intel posted
2019 annual sales of $71.97 billion, topping the $71 billion the
company forecast in October.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, the largest U.S. chip
maker by revenue, also has enjoyed stronger than expected demand
for chips powering PCs. Vendors of those computers shipped large
numbers of devices running a newer version of Microsoft Corp.'s
Windows operating system before the software giant, this month,
stopped supporting the older Windows 7. PC shipments rose by 4.8%
in the quarter, according to International Data Corp. figures,
helping boost Intel's chip sales.
Intel also gave an upbeat outlook for the full year. Sales, it
said, should reach about $73.5 billion. Analysts are expecting
sales to reach $70.98 billion.
Intel shares rose more than 7% in after-hours trading.
Chief Executive Bob Swan said the company was outperforming
revenue and earnings expectations in its long-term financial
plan.
Write to Asa Fitch at asa.fitch@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2020 16:38 ET (21:38 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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