Intel stock closed down 8% on Friday, a day after the company reported disappointing second-quarter earnings that missed on the top and bottom lines.
Intel’s revenue declined 22% year over year and missed consensus by 14%, the company’s largest top-line disappointment since 1999, according to Refinitiv data. It ended the quarter with a $454 million net loss, compared with net income of $5 billion in the year-ago quarter.
The company also lowered its full-year expectations. Intel said it now sees full-year adjusted earnings of $2.30 per share and revenue of $65 billion to $68 billion, which is lower than guidance from three months ago.
The updated forecast factors in economic weakness that might result in organizations putting off PC refresh cycles, David Zinsner, Intel’s finance chief, told CNBC in an interview. He said small and medium-sized businesses have slowed down their computer purchasing, but the enterprise has been holding up.
“We do think we’re on the bottom,” Zinsner said.
Analysts from Susquehanna downgraded shares of Intel from neutral to negative and said that while they would like to think this was a one-time reset, problems persist.
“For decades, Intel was able to cover up a litany of failed projects, poor acquisitions, and strategic foibles by pushing Moore’s Law and process leadership,” the analysts wrote in a report on Friday. “Unless they regain this leadership (we think unlikely), or change strategic direction, we expect growth, profitability, and cash flow problems to persist at Intel.”
Baird analysts also downgraded Intel, citing concerns over supply chain delays and shifts in consumer patterns following the pandemic.
“We are increasingly concerned 20+ year-high inventory days in the PC supply chain could take quarters to unfold, given what we think are structural changes in PC consumer consumption patterns, combined with a seasonally weak first half which would continue to pressure Intel’s utilization rates and gross margin recovery,” they said in a report on Friday.
