Microprocessors Archive

INTC: New CEO Choice, Brian Krzanich, Signals Future Direction (INTC: NEUTRAL)

Posted May 2, 2013 By JoAnne

Intel names Brian Krzanich, formerly COO, as its new CEO and with that move signals the firm’s commitment to capitalizing on its manufacturing dominance, not only to maintain its PC and server CPU advantages, as would be expected,  but also to push harder into mobility and to bring its nascent foundry business to a much larger set of customers.  Both of the latter require innovations in manufacturing technology and in production management of the sort that Krzanich has masterminded for the last several years.

We remain NEUTRAL on INTC shares in the face of near-term headwinds, but view the selection of Krzanich as positive step towards a future with stronger growth and sustainably high margins.

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AMD Surviving, But Can It Thrive? (AMD:NEUTRAL)

Posted April 29, 2013 By JoAnne

AMD’s results and outlook reveal a company still in the depths of a protracted transition, but financials appear to be stabilizing as new products gain traction in consoles, tablets, and inexpensive laptops and hybrids. Richland and Kabini are both shipping, and this puts low-cost, but powerful, APUs into the hands of OEMs at a time when hardware margins have become razor-thin. Temash, the sub-2W SOC for tablets and embedded applications, is ramping now and we expect shipments this quarter to help boost revenues. Investors remain cautious following last year’s disappointing results; can AMD outperform even conservative expectations in 2013?

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Intel Clears the Decks In Advance of Haswell (INTC: NEUTRAL)

Posted April 17, 2013 By JoAnne

Intel  came it a bit shy of expectations for 1Q, but that was likely a relief for many, and its 2Q guidance is close enough to expectations and its capex trim is likely to reassure investors that it has no intention to flood the market with CPUs.  New CPU releases appear on schedule, gross margin is positioned for recovery in 2H, and data center business is seeing continued strength from cloud and HPC and also a hint of a pickup in enterprise spending. Uneven macro signals leave 2H demand in a fog, and so we think it premature to raise growth estimates, but Intel is taking a cautious approach and this should limit downside risk.

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