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Intel Profit Gains on Higher PC Demand; Shares Jump (Update3)

By Ian King
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Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor maker, said profit rose 43 percent on demand for personal computers in Europe and Asia. The company forecast sales that beat estimates, sending the shares higher.

Third-quarter net income increased to $1.86 billion, or 31 cents a share, from $1.3 billion, or 22 cents, a year earlier, the Santa Clara, California-based company said today in a statement. Revenue gained 15 percent to $10.1 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini sped up development of new processors to win back orders from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and benefited from demand in emerging markets such as China. Intel, which has cut jobs and sold money-losing units to help shave $1 billion off costs, said profit margins will widen this quarter.

``The PC space seems to be in pretty good health,'' said Jim Grossman, a portfolio manager at Thrivent Asset Management in Appleton, Wisconsin. The firm held 5.9 million Intel shares as of June 30. ``The guidance for both revenue and margin should please the bulls.''

Intel rose $1.27, or 5 percent, to $26.75 in extended trading. The stock fell 27 cents to $25.48 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have gained 26 percent this year, making them the sixth best performers on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The company's sales forecast countered concern that a slowing U.S. housing market will constrain consumer demand in the year-end holiday shopping period, when sales of computers usually peak. Otellini, 57, scaled back price cuts and sold more higher-margin laptop chips.

Sales Forecast

``Demand was strong in the third quarter and appears to be healthy going into the fourth quarter,'' Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said in an interview. ``Our product line continues to make inroads.''

Intel said fourth-quarter sales may rise to $10.5 billion to $11.1 billion. Gross margin, the percentage of revenue remaining after deducting production costs, will be 57 percent, plus or minus a couple of points, the company said.

Analysts predict sales of $10.4 billion in the fourth quarter, according to the average of estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Gross margin was estimated to be 54.8 percent, according to the average of 12 estimates calculated by Bloomberg.

Strong Demand

Sales in the third quarter beat the $9.59 billion estimated by analysts, while profit topped their prediction of 30 cents a share.

Intel, whose results are viewed as an indicator of demand for computers and related components, kicked off quarterly earnings announcements for the technology industry, along with Yahoo! Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. Intel's microprocessors run more than 70 percent of the world's personal computers.

Revenue at the mobility group, which sells the Centrino laptop chips, rose 30 percent to $4 billion. Digital Enterprise, which sells processors used in business computers, had sales of $5.2 billion, up 5.2 percent.

Sales in the Asia-Pacific region, which provides 52 percent of Intel's revenue, rose 21 percent to $5.21 billion. European sales rose 13 percent to $1.82 billion.

``They demonstrated they could be on top of costs and have very meaningful uptick in revenue,'' said Michael Shinnick, a portfolio manager at First Source Bank in South Bend, Indiana. ``The real message is AMD isn't resurgent.''

Raised Forecast

On Sept. 10, Intel raised its sales forecast to between $9.4 billion and $9.8 billion. Gross margin would be ``in the upper half'' of its previous forecast for 52 percent, plus or minus a couple of points, the company said. The company said today that its gross margin was 52.4 percent.

Emerging markets boosted demand for PCs, and orders for laptops have been higher than normal for this time of year, said John Lau, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York. Shipments from Taiwan, where most notebooks are built, rose 23 percent in September, beating his estimate of 18 percent.

Last year, Intel introduced the Core 2 processor, its first complete chip redesign in more than six years. Analysts including Lau said the product gives Intel a performance lead over Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro.

Of the 40 analysts that follow Intel, 27 rate the stock ``buy,'' nine say ``hold,'' and four recommend selling, according to Bloomberg data.

In July, Intel reported second-quarter profit of 19 cents a share, minus a tax benefit, matching analysts' estimates. The shares fell the next day after the gross margin missed the midpoint of the company's forecast range.