Timely investments will spur Intel

Article Excerpt

INTEL CORP. $21 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.0 billion; Market cap: $105.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) earned $11.6 billion in 2012, down 14.4% from $13.5 billion in 2011. Earnings per share fell 10.4%, to $2.24 from $2.50, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue fell 1.2%, to $53.3 billion from $54.0 billion. Slow computer sales hurt demand for the company’s chips. However, its chips for servers continued to sell well. Intel continues to invest heavily in new factories and chip-making machinery. It will spend around $13 billion on upgrades this year, up 18.2% from $11 billion in 2012. These investments should help the company develop more chips for mobile devices— a market that is growing much faster than its computer chip business. Intel is a buy. buy…