Intel stock jumped 10% on Friday after the company beat Wall Street expectations for profit and sales.
On Thursday, the chipmaker reported earnings per share of 41 cents, adjusted, versus the LSEG estimate of 22 cents. It posted $14.16 billion in revenue for the quarter, ahead of analyst expectations of $13.53 billion, but down 8% from the year-ago quarter. It marked Intel’s seventh consecutive quarter of declining sales.
The Friday boost was largely due to strong demand for PCs and management’s ability to stay on course for a number of initiatives it had previously laid out for the company.
Intel’s premarket run also comes after shares fell earlier in the week in the wake of reports that Nvidia, which dominates artificial intelligence chips, plans to expand into PC chips via a partnership with Arm.
Goldman Sachs analysts acknowledged that their expectations for Intel had been too cautious but added that they are concerned about Intel’s future transformation and foundry business, which is the company’s relatively new chip-manufacturing business.
“While our near-term estimates were clearly too cautious and we acknowledge Intel’s strong execution, particularly on its technology roadmap (i.e. 5 nodes in 4 years), we continue to perceive Intel’s pursuit of an internal foundry model as a challenge,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note to investors.
They also noted concerns over the company’s data center wallet share. Morgan Stanley analysts expressed similar concerns.
However, Intel’s AI performance and foundry business were positives for Morgan Stanley.
“The bigger positive headlines will come from the peripherals — foundry and AI commentary. We expect the stock to offer tactically positive risk reward from here, as the ongoing market recovery will make investors receptive to any of the longer term positives,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note to investors.
They added that in the long run Intel’s “roadmap is a show-me situation for large customers.”
Intel is also on track to hit its goal of $3 billion in savings for the year, according to CEO Pat Gelsinger. JPMorgan analysts praised the savings in an investor note.
“The team is also executing well against its cost saving initiatives and indicated that they are on track with their plans for $3B in savings to COGS/Opex in 2023,” JPMorgan analysts wrote. They added that, although they see “continued solid execution” and “compute fundamentals continue gradually improving,” in their view, “the next 12 months will be the most difficult for the team.”
The JPMorgan analysts raised their price target from $35 to $37, writing that Intel’s next year of data center product launches and more could help predict how the company’s goals will progress over the next three to five years.
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing and Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
A week-long rout in Bitcoin worsened Friday, with the digital asset hitting an over 3-month low, reversing gains that followed the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Bitcoin was trading at about $80,500 in early trading in Asia, down 3.45% on the day and nearly 25% lower than an all-time high hit in mid December.
Bitcoin had enjoyed a surge in prices following Trump’s victory in November, with the leader having posed himself as a pro-crypto candidate during his campaign.
However, prices have slipped as investors shun assets perceived to be risky given the weakness in global equity markets, uncertainty surrounding the new President’s tariff policy and resolutions to major wars such as Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza.
Investor sentiment was also soured by news that Bybit, a major cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a $1.5 billion hack in what’s estimated to be the largest crypto heist in history.
“It seems that the market has become volatile in reaction to the Bybit incident,” Jeff Mei, chief operating officer at crypto exchange BTSE said in a statement sent to CNBC, adding that inflation concerns and a pause in Fed rate cuts in the U.S. have also suppressed markets.
Still, some crypto bulls remain positive on Bitcoin’s outlook as they await key regulatory developments from the Trump administration.
Already, Trump has signed an executive order promoting the advancement of cryptocurrencies in the U.S. and developing a national digital asset stockpile. Meanwhile, his administration has created task forces and a “crypto czar” tasked with supporting a clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.
Geoffrey Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday that bitcoin could surpass the $200,000 threshold this year.
Increased crypto adoption by institutions along with some “regulatory clarity” in the U.S., should lead to less volatility over time, he said.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is interviewed by FOX and Friends at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 3, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent subpoenas to eight technology companies asking for more information about their communications with foreign governments over concerns that they seek to “censor speech” in the U.S.
The subpoenas were sent Wednesday to the CEOs of Google parent Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and TikTok, as well as X and video platform Rumble.
“The Committee must understand how and to what extent foreign governments have limited Americans’ access to lawful speech in the United States, as well as the extent to which the Biden-Harris Administration aided or abetted these efforts,” Jordan said in a statement.
CNBC reached out to each of the subpoenaed companies for comment. A spokesperson for Microsoft said the company is engaged with the panel and “committed to working in good faith.”
A Rumble spokesperson said it “has received the subpoena and we look forward to sharing information related to the ongoing efforts of numerous governments around the globe who seek to suppress the innate human right to self expression.”
Jordan pointed to the European Union’s Digital Services Act, a similar set of laws in the U.K., called the Online Services Act, and regulations around illegal content and hate speech in Brazil and Australia.
The committee is seeking communications around the companies’ compliance with “foreign censorship laws, regulations, judicial orders or other government-initiated efforts” and any internal correspondence discussing those matters.
The subpoenas come after the Federal Trade Commission last week launched an inquiry into “tech censorship.” FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said in a statement that the probe will help the agency “better understand how these firms may have violated the law by silencing and intimidating Americans for speaking their minds.”
The FTC’s request for public comment defines tech platforms as companies that provide a range of services, from social media and video sharing to event planning and ride sharing.
The Republican-led committee has previously accused major tech companies of censorship. The panel subpoenaed Alphabet, Meta and other firms in 2023, demanding they turn over communications between the companies and the U.S. government over censorship concerns.
Andrew Anagnost, chief executive officer of Autodesk Inc., during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, UK, on April 25, 2023.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Design software maker Autodesk said Thursday that it will lay off 1,350 employees, which works out to 9% of its workforce.
The job cuts follow a series of large headcount reductions across the tech industry.
In January, Meta said it would let go of 5% of its workers, and earlier this month Workday, which sells human resources and finance software, announced an 8.5% decrease. Google this week also announced cuts to its human relations and cloud divisions, CNBC reported, and PC maker HP said in a Thursday regulatory filing that it would reduce its headcount by 1,000 or 2,000, representing under 4% of total headcount.
“Our GTM model has evolved significantly from the transition to subscription and multi-year contracts billed annually to self-service enablement, the adoption of direct billing, and more,” Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost wrote in a memo to employees. “These changes position us to better meet the evolving needs of our customers and channel partners. To fully benefit from these changes, we are beginning the transformation of our GTM organization to increase customer satisfaction and Autodesk’s productivity.”
The company is also conducting the layoffs to stay competitive in the current economy and protect the company’s leadership in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, Anagnost wrote.
San Francisco-based Autodesk will make facility reductions as well. But it will not close any offices, a spokesperson told CNBC in an email. It expects $135 million to $150 million in restructuring costs before taxes.
The company on Thursday also announced better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results. The company delivered $2.29 in adjusted earnings per share on $1.64 billion in revenue, which was up 12% year over year. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had been looking for $2.14 per share and $1.63 billion in revenue.
For the fiscal first quarter, Autodesk called for $2.14 to $2.17 in adjusted earnings per share on $1.600 billion to $1.610 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $2.08 per share and $1.598 billion in revenue.
Management sees $9.34 to $9.67 in adjusted earnings per share for the 2026 fiscal year, with $6.895 billion to $6.965 billion in revenue. The LSEG consensus was $9.24 per share and $6.902 billion in revenue.