Profit Takers Dominate Intel Earnings

Gross margin was reported at 65.4% for the fourth quarter. The company had also completed its $4 billion share repurchase in the fourth quarter, totaling $10.8 billion for the full year.

Looking ahead to 2015, revenue growth is expected to be in the mid-single digit percentage points and full-year capital spending is expected to be $10 billion, plus or minus 500 million.

On the balance sheet, total cash investments ended the quarter at $14.1 billion, down $1.5 billion from the third quarter. The processor giant said that $12.0 billion of the total $14.1 billion total cash investments is held by non-U.S. subsidiaries. Cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter was approximately $5.8 billion. During the fourth quarter, Intel paid approximately $1.1 billion in dividends and purchased $2.1 billion in capital assets. Total inventories were up $158 million.

Intel’s business unit trends for the fourth quarter were reported as:

• PC Client Group had revenue of $8.9 billion, up 3% with platform volumes up 6% and platform average selling prices down 2%.
• The Data Center Group had revenue of $4.1 billion, up 25% from the previous year with platform volumes up 15% and platform average selling prices up 10%.
• Internet of Things Group had revenue of $591 million, up 10% from last year and up 12% sequentially.
• Mobile and Communications Group had revenue of -$6 million, down from $1 million from the third quarter.
• The Software and Services operating segments had revenue of $557 million, down 6% from the same period in the previous year and flat sequentially.
• All other operating segments had revenue of $617 million, up 23% on a year-on-year basis and up 7% sequentially.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich commented on the fourth quarter:

The fourth quarter was a strong finish to a record year. We met or exceeded several important goals: reinvigorated the PC business, grew the Data Center business, established a footprint in tablets, and drove growth and innovation in new areas. There is more to do in 2015. We’ll improve our profitability in mobile, and keep Intel focused on the next wave of computing.

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24/7 Wall St. has included some recent analyst calls and their implied upsides from the Thursday’s close:

• Jefferies maintained a Buy rating and increased its price target to $50 from $45 on January 14. This is the highest analyst price target.
• FBR Capital Markets reiterated a Buy rating with a $42 price target on January 13.
• B. Riley reiterated a Buy rating with a $40 price target on January 13.

For comparison, the stock has a consensus analyst price target of $36.10.

These recent calls were fairly optimistic, reflecting how analysts and investors have only recently started catching up to the Intel story. The group of analysts missed the boat in 2014 as well. The consensus analyst price target at the same time last year implied an expected loss of 5.6% or so. Would you consider analysts on the ball if they predicted a drop of more than 5% and shares rose by more than 40% instead? Also, here is our 2015 bullish and bearish analysis for Intel.

Shares of Intel closed Thursday down less than 1% at $36.19. After the release of the earnings report, shares were down further around 1.5% at $35.73 in post-market trading. Intel has a 52-week trading range of $23.50 to $37.90 and a market cap of roughly $176 billion. The stock trades at 15 times forward earnings, more than in recent years, but still a reasonable multiple for investors looking for growth.

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