Topic: Growth Stocks

INTEL CORP. $28 – Nasdaq symbol INTC

INTEL CORP. $28 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.0 billion; Market cap: $140.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) is the world’s largest computer chip maker. About 80% of all computers use the company’s chips.

In the first quarter of 2012, Intel’s revenue rose 0.5%, to $12.9 billion from $12.8 billion a year earlier. Recent flooding in Thailand caused a hard drive shortage that hurt computer sales. That cut demand for Intel’s chips and caused a 2.0% sales decline at the company’s PC Client Group (which supplies two-thirds of its total revenue). However, software sales jumped 137.9% following last year’s purchase of antivirus software specialist McAfee.

Without unusual items, such as costs to integrate McAfee, Intel would have earned $2.9 billion in the latest quarter. That’s down 11.0% from $3.2 billion. Earnings per share fell just 3.4%, to $0.56 from $0.58, on fewer shares outstanding.

Intel continues to invest heavily in developing new chips. It spent $2.4 billion (or 18.6% of its revenue) on research in the latest quarter, up 25.3% from $1.9 billion (or 14.9% of revenue) a year earlier. The company continues to focus on chips for mobile devices. That would help cut its reliance on computer sales.

The stock trades at just 11.3 times Intel’s likely 2012 earnings of $2.48 a share. The $0.84 dividend yields 3.0%.

Intel is a buy.

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