AMD Q4 Loss Narrows, Tops View; Shares Down On Outlook

(RTTNews) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) Thursday said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed from a year ago, helped by the absence of a hefty goodwill impairment charge that dragged down results last year. However, revenues continued to plunge due to weakness in the PC industry. Loss for the quarter was in line with Wall Street expectations, while revenues trumped expectations.

Moving ahead, the company issued a weak revenue outlook for the first quarter, sending its shares down by 7 percent.

Sunnyvale, California-based AMD's fourth-quarter loss narrowed to $102 million or $0.13 per share from last year's loss of $364 million or $0.47 per share.

Excluding items, adjusted loss for the quarter was $79 million or $0.10 per share compared to a profit of $18 million or $0.02 per share a year ago. Twenty-one analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated a loss of $0.10 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

AMD's revenues for the fourth-quarter plunged 23 percent to $958 million from $1.24 billion a year ago. Twenty-four analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $954.74 million for the quarter.

Revenues for the quarter continued to be impacted by lower sales of client and graphics processor products and ongoing weak PC demand. Computing and graphics segment revenues dropped 29 percent, while enterprise, embedded and semi-custom segment revenues dropped 15 percent year-over-year.

AMD, known for its processors for personal computers, have been negatively impacted by the slowing demand for PCs and notebooks as tablets and smartphones gained prominence. The company is also losing market share to its larger rival Intel Corp. (INTC) and competition from Nvidia Corp. (NVDA). Meanwhile, the company has diversified its portfolio and currently also makes chips for video game consoles.

Looking forward to the first quarter, the company expects revenues to decline 14 percent, plus or minus 3 percent, sequentially. Analysts currently expect revenues to decline 12.6 percent.

AMD closed Tuesday's trading at $1.95, down $0.08 or 3.94%, on the NYSE. The stock, however, gained $0.14 or 6.67% in the after-hours trade.