Intel Q3 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Intel Corp. (INTC), the world's biggest chipmaker, Tuesday reported an increase in profit for the third quarter that also beat estimates, as revenues increased driven by data center and internet of things business.

Santa Clara, California-based Intel's third-quarter profit rose to $3.38 billion or $0.69 per share from $3.11 billion or $0.64 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.80 per share. On average, 29 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.72 per share for the quarter.

Intel's revenues for the quarter rose 9 percent to $15.78 billion from $14.47 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $15.58 billion for the quarter.

Intel used to generates a chunk of its revenues by selling chips for computers, however, the company has been negatively impacted by slowing demand for PCs. The company also invested heavily to diversify its portfolio to include chips for smartphones and tablets, but, its chips are not so popular among smartphone and tablet makers.

Meanwhile, Intel now focuses to transition away from being a computer-based company to a company that "powers the cloud and billions of connected computing devices."

Intel sees data center and Internet of Things (IoT) businesses as its primary growth engines, which now contributed a significant chunk of revenues and operating profit, helping it mask negative effects from the PC segment.

Client computing group revenues were up 5 percent to $8.93 billion, while data center segment revenues grew 10 percent to $4.5 billion and Internet of Things unit rose 19 percent to $689 million.

"In addition to strong financials, we delivered exciting new technologies while continuing to align our people and products to our strategy. We're executing well, and these results show Intel's continuing transformation to a company that powers the cloud and billions of smart, connected devices," said Brian Krzanich.

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, Intel expects revenues of $15.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million. Analysts currently estimate revenues of $15.86 billion.

INTC closed Wednesday's trading at $37.75, up $0.46 or 1.23%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, slipped $1.46 or 3.87% in the after-hours trade.