Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2017 results after markets closed Thursday. And so, shares led the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher in Friday’s session, and analysts took the opportunity to weigh in on this tech giant.
Here 24/7 Wall St. presents some of the major highlights from the earnings report, as well as what analysts said after the fact.
The semiconductor maker reported adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.08 on revenue of $17.1 billion, compared to the consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that had called for EPS of $0.87 on revenue of $16.34 billion. In the same period of last year, the company said it had EPS of $0.79 and $16.37 billion in revenue.
Adjusted earnings do not include a one-time charge of $5.4 billion on repatriation of foreign earnings kept offshore. The good news is that Intel’s 2018 tax rate is forecast at 14%.
The big story for Intel came after the first of the year when it revealed a hardware flaw in every processor the company has made for the past couple of decades. The fallout has so far been minimal to the share price, but that could change quickly.
In its guidance for the first quarter, the world’s largest chipmaker forecast revenue of $15 billion (plus or minus $500 million) and non-GAAP operating margins of 27%. EPS is forecast at $0.70. The consensus estimates called for revenues totaling $15.03 billion and EPS of $0.72.
For the full fiscal year, Intel guided revenue to $65 billion, plus or minus $1 billion, compared with fiscal 2017 revenue of $62.08 billion. The consensus estimate had been $62.05 billion. Full-year operating margins are forecast at 30% and full-year adjusted EPS is forecast at $3.55. The consensus EPS estimate is $3.27.
A fair number of analysts weighed in on Intel immediately after the earnings report:
- Credit Suisse upgraded it to Outperform from Neutral and raised its price target to $55 from $42.
- Deutsche Bank raised its price target to $55 from $50.
- Evercore ISI also raised its price target to $55 from $50.
- Jefferies raised its price target from $32 to $38.
- Keybanc maintained an Overweight rating and raised its target to $60 from $50.
- Mizuho raised the price target from $47 to $52.
- Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $43 from $39.
- Needham raised its target price to $50 from $45.
- RBC raised its price target to $46 from $44.
- Stifel raised its price target from $50 to $53.
- SunTrust Robinson raised its target to $50 from $43.
- Susquehanna raised the price target to $54 from $48.
- Wells Fargo raised the price target to $55 from $50.
Shares of Intel traded up about 9% at $49.55 on Friday, with a consensus analyst price target of $47.24 and a 52-week range of $33.23 to $49.95.
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