When Intel
Well, the numbers are in, and the joyride is over. AMD couldn't keep up with Intel this quarter -- not where it mattered, anyway.
AMD's second-quarter sales stayed flat from the last quarter at $1.18 billion. That's nowhere near as impressive as Intel's 12% sequential sales jump. And AMD lost $0.49 per share -- but that includes $0.13 per share from selling aging inventory that had been written off as losses two quarters ago. That inventory-clearing move may have boosted AMD's GAAP gross margins, but in "real" non-GAAP terms, the company's margins and average selling price both sunk.
Like I said, the joyride is over. In one fell swoop, AMD's shares are back where they were before Intel's report.
As an AMD shareholder, I'm disappointed to see such a weak revenue performance. The company resorted to barn-burning clearance sales tactics, and even then failed to keep up with the big boys down the street. However, management is telling me to keep my chin up.
The six-core Istanbul processor started shipping too late to make an impact on the second quarter's results, but it should play a large part in the next quarter. Large server vendors from Dell
And Microsoft
So, while I'm disappointed in the current state of affairs, those warehoused old chips are essentially gone now, and Istanbul can put up a better fight against Intel's Nehalem chips than Shanghai ever could. I'll hold on for dear life through what promises to be a turbulent summer, hoping to eventually see AMD passing the $1.3 billion revenue mark where the red ink should turn black. Profits have this magical power to launch depressed stocks into orbit, you know.
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