Intel
Sales: $8 billion, down 15%
Profit: -$398 million, down 125%
Okay, so sales and profits may not be so great at tech bellwether Intel, but they're better than most thought, and the company said they're rising fast.
Results easily trumped the Street's estimates. That's largely due to the PC market, which Intel said has started to bounce back sharply, exhibiting the fastest second-quarter segment growth since 1988. Sales of Intel's Atom chip, which go into the now very popular netbooks, spiked 65% from the previous quarter. Unlike Microsoft, Intel relies more on consumer PC sales, which are rebounding more than business PC sales.
The only real disappointment for Intel was the $1.45 billion fine levied by the European Union as a result of an antitrust suit brought by rival chipmaker AMD. That resulted in the first quarterly loss Intel had suffered in 22 years. Analysts were also concerned about reliance on the Atom processor, which is cheaper than traditional PC chips.
However, Intel was very upbeat about the future, saying third-quarter revenue would come in at $8.5 billion, again beating analysts' forecasts. Though the company said economic conditions could dampen results, it believed stronger sales, especially from consumers, were here to stay.
NEXT: IBM
