What happened
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD +0.19%) are rising today, up by 6.4% as of 12:12 p.m. EDT, after the semiconductor company reported Q2 2021 earnings that beat analyst predictions with a stick.
Expected to earn $0.54 per share pro forma on sales of barely $3.6 billion, AMD instead reported a $0.63-per-share profit and sales of $3.85 billion.
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So what
When calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), of course, AMD's numbers weren't quite as good as those pro forma numbers suggest -- but they were good enough.
Sales all but doubled year over year, rising 99%. Gross profit margin jumped 4 full percentage points to 48%, and operating profit margin more than doubled to 22%. On the bottom line, AMD's GAAP profit amounted to $0.58 per share, up 346% from the $0.13 per share it earned a year ago.
Now what
And as good as Q2 was, Q3 could be even better.
Updating guidance for the quarter to come, AMD said it expects third-quarter revenue to be about $4.1 billion, "plus or minus $100 million." That's 6% better than Q2 numbers, 46% growth over a year ago, and and well ahead of analysts' forecast for $3.8 billion in sales. The company says sales of chips to data center and gaming businesses will drive growth in the coming quarter, and AMD plans to maintain its current 48% gross profit margin in Q3 -- and for all of 2021 as a whole.
