Intel Q2 profit jumps 44%

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: Intel Corp's second-quarter profit jumped 44 per cent on strong sales of microprocessors, but the company's shares fell amid signs that fierce competition continues to push chip prices lower.

Intel's stock price had risen 29 per cent since the start of the year, hitting a new 52-week high of $26.33 before the earnings were released. The stock fell nearly 5 per cent to $25.05 in after-hours trading.

Cody Acree, senior semiconductor analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co, said some investors may have been expecting too much from the company in the second quarter.

"It's a case of the stock having done so well, the expectations were probably unrealistic, at least as far as something in the summer months that would drive continued momentum," he said, adding that Intel's financial outlook is promising.

Intel, the world's largest semiconductor company, said net income for the three months ended June 30 was $1.28 billion, or 22 cents per share, compared with $885 million, or 15 cents per share during the same period last year.

Were it not for one-time tax gains, the Santa Clara-based chipmaker's profit for the latest quarter would have been lower by 3 cents per share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting Intel to earn, on average, 19 cents per share.