Intel Guides Q4 Well Below Estimates as PC Slump and Israel Fab Blast Weigh
INTC has more than doubled off its 52-week low of $32.89.
Summary
Intel guided fourth-quarter revenue to $15-16 billion against a $17.07 billion consensus and adjusted EPS to 10 cents versus 43 cents expected, a wide miss that puts the stock's doubling this year at risk. The October explosion at the Kiryat Gat fab in Israel knocked roughly $300 million off the Q4 revenue outlook and about 200 basis points off gross margins, with a similar hit expected in Q1; production is set to ramp back up by the end of this week. PC chip sales fell 5% to $8.10 billion and missed the $8.98 billion estimate, and CFO David Zinsner said the PC slowdown persists at least through the first half of next year. Q3 itself was solid — revenue up 21% to $16.51 billion, net income of $3.32 billion and EPS of 60 cents beating 40 cents — with data center growth strong, but the forward numbers are what matter. Capex for 2026 was raised to $20 billion from $18 billion, adding spending pressure on top of August's $23 billion equity raise. Nvidia remains the AI benchmark Intel's foundry turnaround under CEO Lip-Bu Tan is trying to close; the read-through for NVDA is limited since the weakness is PC and Intel-specific.
At the time of this announcement, INTC was trading at $92.01 on NASDAQ in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $486.3B. The 52-week trading range was $32.89 to $142.35. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Reuters.