Chipmakers target mobile gains

Article Excerpt

Intel and Nvidia have thrived as a result of the rapid growth of personal computers in the past two decades. Both companies now aim to duplicate that success with new chips for smartphones and tablet computers. 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…