SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Intel’s net income leaped 59 percent in the latest quarter, despite economic edginess that curbed PC appetite.
The technology-industry bellwether’s jump would have been higher the economy hadn’t dampened back-to-school spending. Still, investors sent shares up slightly in extended trading.
As the world’s biggest maker of microprocessors, the “brains” of PCs, Intel is a proxy for the overall PC market, which has stumbled in the past few months.
Intel said after the market closed Tuesday that it earned $2.96 billion, or 52 cents per share, compared with $1.86 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts expected 50 cents per share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.
Revenue rose 18 percent to $11.10 billion. Analysts expected $10.99 billion.
Intel had already tamped down investors’ expectations when it cut its third-quarter guidance in August.
Job-market jitters have caused shoppers to hang on to more of their money, turning back-to-school into a bust for many PC makers and their suppliers. The focus now is on the industry’s other make-or-break moment: the holiday shopping season.
Many analysts are predicting this winter will be healthier than the fall. Intel’s fourth-quarter forecast seems to support that. Intel is predicting revenue of $11.0 billion to $11.8 billion in the fourth quarter. Analysts were expecting $11.3 billion.
CEO Paul Otellini said Intel continues to see “healthy worldwide demand for computing products of all types.”
Shares of Intel increased 22 cents to $19.99 in extended trading. Before the release of results, it closed up 21 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $19.77.
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