Intel’s New CEO Will Make His Earnings Debut This Week

Lip-Bu Tan, the microphone is yours. 

Tan, named CEO of chipmaker Intel (INTC) in mid-March, hasn’t been invisible since his appointment. He gave the keynote address at a company event later that month, coming onstage in sneakers and a suit, sans necktie, and admitting in a speech that “there are areas we have fallen short of your expectations.”

Still, Thursday afternoon will be the first quarterly earnings report and conference call under his leadership. Investors—who bid the stock up after he was named, but have seen the shares give all those gains back and more—are eager to learn what might be next. (A rough 2024 for the company and its stock contributed to the December retirement of the former chief, Pat Gelsinger.)

That will put the focus on Tan’s next steps. Investors have been broadly excited about the possibility of deals for Intel—a while ago, there were even rumblings regarding a possible sale of the company itself—but there has been comparatively little smoke on that front in recent weeks.

Still, there has been news to digest. The company recently said it would sell a 51% stake in its Altera programmable chips unit to tech-focused private equity firm Silver Lake. And reports have described a possible chipmaking joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), though TSMC threw some cold water on the idea last week.

“TSMC is not engaged in any discussion with other companies regarding any joint venture, technology licensing or technology transfer and sharing,” CEO C.C. Wei said on a conference call, a transcript of which was made available by AlphaSense.

For the most recently completed quarter, Wall Street analysts expect Intel to report revenue of $12.3 billion and adjusted net income of $41.6 million, according to the mean compiled by Visible Alpha.

Wall Street may re-rate the stock after Thursday’s report, but for now the watchword seems to be caution. All the analysts following the company and tracked by Visible Alpha have neutral ratings, though their mean target just under $23 represents a roughly 20% premium to last week’s finish near $19.