Technology

Will the Beatings at AMD Be Felt Elsewhere?

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) had its shares halted in the after-hours trading session on Monday. Normally, when shares are halted in this manner the company is releasing fairly big news. In this case AMD, the company issued yet another warning to its investors regarding its upcoming earnings and revenue report.

The company announced that its revenue for the second quarter is expected to be lower than previously guided. AMD now expects this revenue to decrease roughly 8% sequentially, compared to the previous guidance of down 3%, plus or minus 3%. The reasoning behind this decrease is primarily the weaker than expected consumer PC demand.

Any time investors see weak personal computer demand, the first consideration is whether it will also hurt Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC). After all, Intel is the big cheese when it comes to processors for PCs. It turns out that AMD may just be suffering as a result of Intel, rather than AMD indicating true weakness in Intel also.

AMD further said that trends have impacted its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) accelerated processing unit (APU) sales. The company expects second-quarter channel sales and channel inventory reduction efforts to be in line with the company’s plans.

Gross margin is now expected to be about 28%, compared to the previous guidance of 32%. This drop was brought about due to a higher mix of Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment sales and lower than anticipated Computing and Graphics segment APU unit volumes due to weaker than expected OEM PC product demand.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the second quarter are expected to be approximately $830 million, in line with prior expectations.

So far over the past year, AMD has suffered. Within the past 52-weeks alone the stock is down roughly 42%, but slightly better in 2015 as shares are only down about 5%. These earnings leave a lot to be desired for this company and the direction it is heading.

Shares of AMD closed Monday down 2.4% to $2.47, in 52-week trading range of $2.14 to $4.80. In the after-hours trading session, shares were down an additional 13% to $2.14, and Nasdaq showed over 800,000 shares trading since the closing bell as of 5:10 p.m. Eastern Time. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $2.61. AMD seems to have become the poster child of the shirts that say “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

While this is not appearing to hurt Intel in the after-hours, 24/7 Wall St. had previously wondered if Intel investors were bracing for bad earnings. Intel shares closed Monday down 1.7% to $30.04. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $34.37 and a 52-week trading range of $29.31 to $37.90. In the after-hours trading session, shares were down 0.1% at $30.01. If AMD was a real barometer any longer, AMD’s warnings would be pressuring Intel much more than 0.1% — or even much more than just 1.0%.

ALSO READ: How AT&T Is Getting Its Investor Mojo Back!

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