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Intel Corp.’s year-over-year growth flattened in the third quarter with revenue and net income coming in largely unchanged from the 2012 comparable quarter in an environment described as “tough” by the company’s CEO who also said the results came in as “expected.”
The world’s biggest semiconductor supplier by sales reported net income fell slightly in the three months ended Sep. 28, 2013 to $2.95 billion from $2.97 billion in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share were virtually unchanged at 58 cents while revenue increased a bit to $13.48 billion from $13.46 billion. Sales were up 5 percent from the second quarter, the company said in a statement.
Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO
CEO Brian Krzanich said in the statement that the results were in line with the company’s expectations but added that Intel is introducing new products as part of plans to expand its offerings into new market segments, including “the Internet-of-Things to datacenters, with an increasing focus on ultra-mobile devices and 2-in-1 systems.” More than 40 new products were introduced in the just-ended quarter, Krzanich said.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company’s third quarter revenue was in line with analysts’ consensus estimate although earnings per share were stronger than anticipated. Analysts on average were expecting sales of $13.47 billion and 53 cents in earnings per share. Sales in the company’s PC client group fell 3.5 percent from the year-ago quarter to $8.4 billion and were up by the same percentage point from the immediately preceding quarter. The data center group reported strong year-over year sales increase to $2.9 billion, up more than 12 percent from the third quarter of 2012 and 6 percent sequentially. Gross profit margins improved to 62.4 percent, above the company’s initial guidance of 61 percent.
It appears Intel is not expecting a surge in revenue and profits in the final quarter of the year. It said fourth quarter revenue would be approximately $13.7 billion, “plus or minus $500 million,” and within the consensus analysts’ estimate of $14 billion.
