Intel shares plunge on company’s grim forecast

Intel Corp. is forecasting one of the worst quarters in its history, touching off a broader selloff of chips companies as a slowdown in personal-computer sales ravages the industry.

Late Thursday, Intel gave a sales range that missed analysts’ estimates by billions of dollars, warning that revenue could fall to the lowest quarterly level since 2010. Shares plunged 10 per cent Friday in premarket trading. Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. declined. Semiconductor maker KLA Corp., which issued its own disappointing outlook, also slid.

Chip companies are reeling over a steep decline in demand for PC processors that has wiped out profit and led to deep cuts across the industry. Intel’s outlook signals more pain to come. The company is eliminating jobs and slowing spending on new plants in an effort to save as much as $10 billion (U.S.). It’s taking an especially large hit from losing market share to rivals.

Investors had been bracing for a weak outlook ahead of Intel’s earnings, but “the magnitude of the weaker guidance was quite surprising,” Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore said in a note.

It was a painful admission for a company that has been attempting a multi-year comeback under chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger, who took the helm in 2021. A post-pandemic downturn for Intel’s main business, PC chips, has torpedoed efforts to get the company’s financial performance back on course. Instead, it’s only losing more ground.

The stock had increased 14 per cent this year, part of a rally for chip equities, but Intel’s pre-market decline threatens to wipe out most of that gain.

The latest results and outlook were both “very weak,” Wells Fargo & Co. analyst Aaron Rakers said in a note, and there was no forecast for the full year — adding to the uncertainty. Intel predicted that its gross margin — the percentage of sales remaining after deducting the cost of production — would be 39 per cent in the first quarter. That’s down 14.1 points from the same period a year ago and more than 10 points narrower than that of its nearest rival, AMD.

First-quarter sales will be $10.5 billion to $11.5 billion, the chipmaker said. That compares with an average Wall Street estimate of $14 billion. Intel expects to lose 15 cents in the quarter, excluding some items. Analysts had projected a profit of 25 cents.