The novel coronavirus outbreak has caused business disruptions, earnings warnings and sent the stock markets into a tizzy, but at Intel (INTC 0.30%) it's business as usual.
That's according to the semiconductor manufacturer's Chief Financial Officer George Davis, who was quoted as saying during a Morgan Stanley investor conference this week that, even amid the coronavirus outbreak, Intel has been able "to operate on a relatively normal basis." Calling the disruptions Intel is seeing "modest," the executive did note that the tech company entered the quarter with shortages and wouldn't have been able to meet the demand near the end of the year with or without coronavirus.
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Intel's rather benign assessment of the impact coronavirus is having on its business flies in the face of Apple (AAPL 1.00%), which earlier this month issued a warning for the current fiscal second quarter because of a slowdown in production as plants in China were idled and stores across the country were shuttered. Microsoft (MSFT 0.43%) also warned that the coronavirus (which causes the disease COVID-19) would prevent the company from reaching its targets in its More Personal Computing unit which includes Microsoft's Windows operating system, its devices, PC accessories, and gaming hardware and services.
Although Intel said business isn't being impacted, Davis did acknowledge some of its customers are beginning to feel the effects as they deal with interruptions in the supply chain. Intel's CFO noted the chipmaker has a NAND manufacturing plant in Dalian, China, a test and packaging plant in Chengdu and design facilities located in Shanghai and Beijing.
Recently shares of Intel were inching higher, but the stock is still down so far in 2020. Since Feb. 19, the stock had plummeted nearly 18%. It recouped some of the losses this week, but it is still 3% lower since the start of this year.
