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Intel display located in front of the entrance to the Silicon Valley offices and museum
Andreistanescu / Dreamstime
Strong sales from his personal computer chips and his self-driving unit Mobileye helped
Intel
end a difficult 2020 with a high grade.
Silicon Valley chip maker said fourth-quarter sales fell to $ 19.98 from $ 20.21 billion a year ago. However, personal computer sales rose 9% to $ 10.9 billion, and the company said it sold a record number of notebook chips. Analysts have forecast PC sales of $ 9.57 billion.
Mobileye stood out, with revenues rising by about 50% to $ 333 million. “Mobileye is about to become an annualized multi-billion dollar business, a real achievement,” said Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy.
Intel (ticker: INTC) posted total fourth quarter net income of $ 5.9 billion, which is $ 1.42 per share, compared to a profit of $ 6.9 billion or 1, $ 58 last quarter. Adjusted for restructuring and acquisition costs, earnings were $ 1.52 per share.
The results easily exceeded Intel’s own sales forecasts for the fourth quarter and exceeded consensus estimates, allowing outgoing CEO Bob Swan to leave the company with something of great value.
Shares of Intel rallied in the final minutes of trading on Thursday, rising 6.5% to $ 62.46, after Intel unexpectedly posted results about seven minutes before the end of the trading session.
“We significantly exceeded our expectations for that quarter, reaching the fifth consecutive record year,” Swan said. “Intel’s demand for computing performance remains very strong, and our focus on growth opportunities is paying off.”
Wall Street expected chip sales in the Intel data center to fall nearly 25 percent in the fourth quarter, but the company reported $ 6.1 billion in sales, down 16 percent from the quarter. a year ago.
Intel offered investors another reason to rejoice, announcing that it will increase its dividend in 2021 by 5%.
Amid the shortage of chips around the world, which has hampered the production of goods from video game consoles to cars, Intel has issued optimistic guidelines for the first quarter.
The company said it expected non-GAAP earnings of $ 1.10 per share on adjusted revenue of $ 17.5 billion. The adjusted revenue figure excludes its $ 1.1 billion flash memory sales since the company sold the unit to Sk Hynix in late 2020.
Swan will be replaced by VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger on February 15th.
At a conference call late Thursday, Gelsinger said the company will continue to produce most of its chips by 2023, but said “it is likely that we will expand the use of external foundries for certain technologies and products.” The CEO has promised a new update once he officially starts at the company next month.
Shares of Intel rose 3.2% in the last year, while the PHLX Semiconductor index gained 64%.
S&P 500
has increased by 16% in the last year.
Write to Max A. Cherney at [email protected]