We're all about objectivity and disclosure here at The Motley Fool. Which puts us in something of a quandary this textbook early-autumn afternoon. We talk of investing here at Fool HQ and open minds abound, but when it comes to pro football, there are blind homers among us.

How to put this delicately? The NFL kicked off its season with a bang last night, right up the road in the nation's capital. And if you ask us, everything went off beautifully -- and we're not just talkin' Aerosmith!

In today's Motley Fool Take:

Intel Goes North

Ask not for whom the bellwether tolls, just be glad that it's ringing in tune.

Tech giant Intel(Nasdaq: INTC) is raising the floor on its top-line guidance. The chip maker is now looking to produce between $7.6 billion and $7.8 billion in revenue in its third quarter. The old target was a much wider $7.3 billion to $7.8 billion range.

Why does this matter? Well, that "old" target wasn't seasoned at all. The company made that earlier call just two weeks ago. Before that, the floor was dragging around $6.9 billion. Business must be booming for Intel to tighten those clamp screws so quickly for the better.

We won't know how well Intel made out for sure until it posts its financial results next month, but the appetizers have been tasty. While skeptics might write this one off as a seasonal blip, momentum has been hitching a ride on Intel for some time now. Even before last night's welcome tweak, the company was already starting to roll. Back in July, it reported that second-quarter profits had doubled on an 8% uptick in revenue.

The revised guidance for the current quarter means that the company is looking to grow its top line by at least 17% over last year's showing.

In other words, if Intel is back, then the personal computer makers can't be too far behind. Sure, Dell(Nasdaq: DELL) never broke a sweat, but this is still great news for Hewlett-Packard(NYSE: HPQ) and Gateway(NYSE: GTW). Even Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL) can cheer Intel's report, albeit vicariously.

Intel is also looking for healthy gross margins, though the bottom line won't feel all of the love due to higher tax rates. That's OK. Let Uncle Sam have his fun. Intel isn't going to be crying "Uncle" anytime soon.

Discussion Board of the Day: Intel

Is Intel's upbeat outlook for real? Is the company's restrained capital spending budget still a concern? Where does AMD (NYSE: AMD) fit into Intel's plans? All this and more -- in the Intel discussion board. Only on Fool.com.

FedEx Scores With Football

Are you ready for some football?

Memphis-based global delivery giant FedEx(NYSE: FDX) certainly is. It unveiled a new advertising campaign last night during the Redskins-Jets National Football League season-opening game (in which the 'Skins mercifully pulled off a win). It also just extended its NFL sponsorship through 2006, continuing its role as the NFL's "Official Delivery Service Sponsor."

FedEx's tag line for the new ad campaign, "Relax, it's FedEx," supports the company's strong brand image of reliability. The ads are amusing, with one memorable spot poking fun at MBA grads.

The commercials will also be the first to showcase FedEx's growing FedEx Home Delivery unit, which is part of FedEx Ground. Already a central figure in business-to-business delivery, FedEx has also been building a name for itself over the last few years as an option for on-the-ground small package delivery. It's working; FedEx Ground is the company's fastest-growing division.

For Washington, D.C., area football fans, FedEx is a familiar name. The Redskins have been playing at FedEx Field since 1999. And recently, much-maligned Redskins owner Daniel Snyder announced that he's selling a chunk of the team to FedEx founder, chairman, and CEO Fred Smith. (Perhaps since former Jets players like Laveranues Coles are being dubbed "JetSkins," Fred Smith can be known as an honorary "FedExSkin.")

For FedEx, the ability to spread its brand through something as beloved and American as football is a winning proposition. Now, if only some of those winning ways would keep rubbing off on the 'Skins....

Shameless Plug: Motley Fool Stock Advisor

Motley Fool Stock Advisor subscribers know that FedEx was David Gardner's top pick for February 2003. The stock is up more than 15% since, but is something of a laggard in David's portfolio. On average, his recommendations are up more than 55% since being highlighted in Stock Advisor. Brother Tom can barely stand to look; his own Stock Advisor picks are up on average a mere 36%.

Home Depot Gets Hip

Eager to take the urban market, Home Depot(NYSE: HD) announced Wednesday that it will open a Manhattan store in 2004. The Manhattan location will complement stores already established in Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island.

Both Home Depot and rival Lowe's(NYSE: LOW) have traditionally thrived in suburban sprawl, where customers arrive en masse via cars and mini-vans for the lumber, nails, gardening implements, and other tools needed for home beautification and improvement.

However, let's face it, it's not like urban hipsters don't do their fair share of remodeling and do-it-yourself work as well, and in a thriving construction and home improvement market where modernization equals increased value, it makes perfect sense for Home Depot to venture into the lucrative and well-populated Manhattan market.

You wouldn't be alone if you wondered about the traditional barriers to big-box stores entering urban environments, not least of which is simple logistics. In a city teeming with people, like New York, where most citizens schlep their purchases by foot, the idea of shoppers toting heavy bags of hardware all over town can easily be met with the question, "How?"

Home Depot's solution is to offer delivery options to its urban customers, a move that makes the whole idea of buying hammers, drills, paint, and other large home improvement items a lot more pleasant to the city dweller.

When it comes to the fight for the urban customer, one where a pedestrian clientele needs multiple points of presence, Home Depot may have hit the nail on the head with this one. What better place to open shop than in the city that never sleeps? That could add up to a lot of home improvement.

Quote of Note

"Where thou art, that is home." -- Emily Dickinson

And Finally...

It was a mixed week for Foolish investors.

On the downside, Bill Mann's Come See the Parasites laments news that major mutual fund companies helped a hedge fund bilk individual investors out of millions in profits, while Jeff Hwang tells of a Goldman Economist Indicted for insider bond trading.

The good news? Rick Munarriz has 5 That Pay, and Rex Moore delivers some nuts-and-bolts investment advice in Screen Me Up, Scotty. Oh yeah, did we mention the Redskins won?

Contributors:
Bob Bobala, Robert Brokamp, Paul Elliott, Mathew Emmert, Jeff Fischer, Tom Jacobs, Jeff Hwang, LouAnn Lofton, Alyce Lomax, Bill Mann, Selena Maranjian, Rex Moore, Rick Munarriz, Matt Richey, Reggie Santiago, Dayana Yochim