Topic: Growth Stocks

INTEL CORP. $34 – Nasdaq symbol INTC

INTEL CORP. $34 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 4.9 billion; Market cap: $166.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) is the world’s leading computer chip maker. Its products power 80% of all personal computers.

The company continues to benefit as businesses upgrade their computers after Microsoft (see box) stopped supporting its old Windows XP operating system. Strong demand for Internet services has also spurred sales of server computers.

As a result, Intel’s 2014 sales rose 6.0%, to $55.9 billion from $52.7 billion in 2013. Earnings jumped 21.7%, to $11.7 billion, or $2.31 a share, from $9.6 billion, or $1.89.

Intel continues to invest heavily in new chips. It spent $11.5 billion (or 20.6% of its sales) on research in 2014, up 8.7% from $10.6 billion (or 20.1% of sales) in 2013.

A large part of this spending is going into chips for smartphones and tablet computers. Intel installed its chips in 46 million mobile devices in 2014, well ahead of its target of 40 million.

However, it had to offer subsidies to get manufacturers to switch from other chips, causing its mobile chip business to lose $4.2 billion in 2014. But Intel expects this business to earn a profit in 2015, thanks to upcoming chips that will sell without subsidies.

Intel’s strong balance sheet will let it keep investing in new products. It holds cash and investments of $21.2 billion, or $4.37 a share, and its $12.1 billion of longterm debt is just 7% of its market cap.

The company will probably earn $2.37 a share in 2015, and the stock trades at 14.3 times that forecast. The $0.96 dividend yields 2.8%.

Intel is a buy.

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