
NASDAQ:INTC
Close to the target price of the general consensus of $27-$28. Had a nice little bounce off the bottom. 62% of revenues are from the PC market, which is going through a sector decline right now. As economies and corporate profits improve, they are going to have to go through a normal PC replacement cycle. One short-term catalyst that is working in their favour is where Windows XP has stopped being supported, and there are still about 27% PCs being run on that, so you might see a natural upgrade cycle. Not cheap at 14X forward earnings, and earnings growth is mid-single digit. If you own, consider taking some profits.
Recently sold his holdings. They came out with some pretty disappointing guidance. Thinks they will turn the corner here. They are investing a huge amount of money in research and development. They are investing more money every year than what their major competitor ARM Holding (ARMH-Q) is worth. PC shipment business has been tough. Having some difficulty in the new lines of business. They have been expanding into. Likes the 3.7% dividend which he feels is secure. Good balance sheet. Feels their movement into chips for the cell phone business will be successful but is a lower margin business.
Not positioned for mobile because their chips use too much energy. They are moving to better chips to compete with ARM. There is this big battle going on and it will pressure prices for a while. Their margins will come under pressure. They can probably continue with their dividend but growth will come under pressure.
Street was negative on this because they largely don’t have leverage to the mobile market. They missed this completely. Hands-down they are the best chip maker out there. Lost direction when they missed the mobile market. Thinks the stock will continue to work because they will gain market share over time. If they can take 1% of market share per year over the next several years, it is a positive trajectory for them. It is now starting to gain leverage to the mobile market and he likes that the chips are the best chips available. His bias is positive on the stock.
It is controversial but he would buy it today. Thinks they will regain market share. They ARE the PC business. There is not a lot of market share to lose in that area. At some point PC sales will stabilize. They have a rich dividend. Don’t count them out yet. There are better places to be, but he would hold it.
His 3 picks today are all technology related. He is seeing earnings and revenue growth over time and a global move towards more mobile telephony technology. This company is trading at around 12X earnings with a 3.96 % yield. Spends $14 billion a year in research and development. Expecting they will come out with an innovative solution in new chips.