PALO ALTO, Calif. (CNN/Money) - That's right -- unimpressed. That's the Street's reaction to Intel's fourth-quarter results and guidance for the year ahead. Sure, Intel "beat" expectations -- but not by much.

And management still sees no solid evidence of a robust tech recovery. (see more on Intel's results) So instead it soldiers on, waiting for new products (like wireless) to click and for the inevitable corporate PC upgrade cycle eventually to begin.

Even sell-side analysts seem bummed. After all, Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) is a single-digit growth company (fourth-quarter revenues were up three percent over the same quarter in 2001) with a growth-stock multiple.

"At 27 times our 2003 earnings estimate Intel is still expensive relative to its growth prospects and its own history," Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha told his clients Wednesday morning.

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The Merrill analyst assigns a "sell" rating to Intel's shares. In other words, he thinks there'll be plenty of time to buy Intel when there's some evidence that its growth is beginning to return.

Not surprisingly, my favorite Intel bear has a "sell" as well. He actually thinks the stock will trade up in coming weeks because Intel only ever-so-slightly lowered its first-quarter guidance, and that only by lowering its expected revenue range a smidgen. When Intel is forced to lower guidance in late February, at its so-called mid-quarter update, then the stock will decline.

Now that will be impressive.

My Intel source also takes note of Intel's comment on its capital spending budget, which goes into plants and equipment to build semiconductors. They say it will be about a billion dollars less than it was in 2002.

That, he says, has more to do with brutal discounting among the equipment suppliers than Intel's dour outlook. "The equipment makers have been having a buy-two-get-one-free sale," says my Intel bear, no less bearish after Tuesday's report. That's a bad sign for equipment makers (like Applied Materials (AMAT: Research, Estimates)). Intel is buying equipment, but the AMATs of the world just don't make as much money as before.

Adam Lashinsky is a senior writer for Fortune magazine. Send e-mail to Adam at lashinskysbottomline@yahoo.com.

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