Intel Shares Rise Ahead Of Earnings Release

Earnings season is getting into full-swing and one of the next huge earnings releases will be from Intel on Thursday after U.S. markets close. Expectations are for earnings of $1.24 a share on revenues of $19.2 billion.

The semiconductor giant handily beat third quarter earnings expectations, posting record breaking quarterly revenue of $19.2 billion along with earnings of $1.42 a share, and now investors are wondering if Intel can repeat that performance in the fourth quarter.

That might be easier said than done though, as Intel management has forecast weak sales into the PC, segment, as well as problems with production and deliveries. Taken together that could make this quarter a bust.

And yet there are indications that the fourth quarter may have turned out better than Intel management has forecast, just as it did in the third quarter.

For one thing industry watchers are saying the fourth quarter deliveries to the PC market were far stronger than indicated. Intel has said those sales are supposed to be flat, but initial readings show an increase of 4.8% in sales to that business segment.

Also showing strong performance for the fourth quarter is the server market, which may be indicating the start of a new buying cycle for data centers. That would not only be positive for this quarter, but for all of 2020.

Shares of Intel surged following the third quarter results, but have underperformed its semiconductor peers. Even so, shares rose 16% over the past quarter and were up 3.6% on Wednesday as investors seem bullish ahead of the earnings report.