Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
All:
From Monday's WSJ:
AMD Again Delays Shipment Of Its 64-Bit Computer Chip
Product Is Seen as Critical in Competition
With Intel; PC Type Slides to September
By DON CLARK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is once again delaying the shipment of a long-awaited microprocessor chip that is vital to its competition with Intel Corp.
The chip, part of a new family that has carried the code name Hammer, was originally expected to be available in personal computers at the end of 2002 or early in the first quarter of this year. In September, however, AMD reset the delivery date to late in the first quarter or early in the second period. Friday, AMD said PCs based on the chip, formally called the Athlon 64, won't be ready until September, though a version called Opteron for servers and technical workstations will be introduced April 22.
Hammer has implications beyond AMD. Where most computers process 32 bits of data at a time, the new product line can handle 64 bits, a feature needed for massive databases, complex visual simulations and other difficult computing chores.
Intel has begun selling a 64-bit chip called Itanium, based on an entirely new design that was developed with help from Hewlett-Packard Co. But Itanium-based computers have sold slowly.
AMD simply added new features to existing technology. So Hammer-based computers are expected to efficiently run both 32-bit and 64-bit programs, making systems that use the chip more versatile than those based on Itanium.
Not many consumers need such power today. But AMD executives believe the desktop version of Hammer could have a broader impact than the server version, as 64-bit capability becomes a built-in feature on standard PCs, which would inspire an explosion of new software. "Sixty-four bits will come for free, and then the applications will come in," said Fred Weber, chief technical officer of AMD's computation-products group, during a briefing at the company's Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters Thursday.
The company has been vague about reasons for the delays. One issue, a spokesman acknowledged Friday, is working out the bugs in a production technique called silicon-on-insulator, which AMD is refining with help from International Business Machines Corp.
Joseph Osha, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, said AMD appears to be facing problems in shrinking the Athlon 64 to a size where it can be manufactured profitably. Size isn't as important in server systems, since chips for that market command a higher price than chips for PCs.
While waiting for the Athlon 64, AMD said Friday that it plans to give a speed boost to its 32-bit Athlon line, starting Feb. 10, with a product line, code-named Barton, which has a larger data-storage repository called cache memory.
Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com
Updated February 3, 2003
u.a. knowit:
I heard that Bush may already have replacements ready to name for the two he canned last week. That may lift the markets tomorrow, including INTC - don't try to fight it (either up or down).
Adam
All:
http://money.cnn.com/2002/12/02/markets/afterbell/index.htm
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Tech stocks could help lead the market higher Tuesday as two chipmakers, Texas Instruments and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, both raised their revenue outlook.
Texas Instruments, one of the world's largest makers of chips for computers and cell phones, said that fourth-quarter semiconductor revenue will be down 2 percent from third quarter levels, rather than the previous guidance of a 5 percent drop, and that overall revenue will be down 7 percent instead of 10 percent, due to the seasonal drop in calculator sales.
It said it expects to earn 3 cents a share in the quarter, excluding special items, up from its earlier EPS guidance of 2 cents.
Shares of TI (TXN: Research, Estimates) gained $1.13, or 6 percent, to $20.90 in after-hours trading, after closing down 24 cents in regular-hours activity Monday.
Chartered (CHRT: Research, Estimates), a contract chipmaker, said it now expects revenue to be slightly better than expected, despite lower-than-expected average pricing, due to increased shipments and utilization. It said revenue should be up 39 percent compared with a year earlier, rather than its earlier guidance of a 37 percent gain. Its loss per American depository share should still be in the 47- to 49-cent range.
Shares of Chartered gained 36 cents, or about 6 percent, to $6.65 in after-hours trading after a loss of 15 cents in regular-hours trading.
All:
Walmart reported $1.43B in sales on Friday, up 14.4% from last year's $1.25B day-after-Thanksgiving sales. Hopefully that will be bullish enough for the markets next week.
Adam
All:
Yikes - I thought owning tech stocks was risky, but you're no safer with insurance companies (isn't that what Buffett likes?).
The session's one major negative was No. 3 U.S. insurer Cigna (CI: down $24.21 to $39.39, Research, Estimates), which plunged after the company warned late Thursday about its third-quarter and full-year profits and said it could cut jobs. In a subsequent warning late Friday, Cigna said 2003 results will miss current estimates by a substantial sum.
fowler:
I don't think Arik has a career as an MLB umpire - here's his(?) pitch play-by-play:
Strike 1
Ball 1
Ball 2
Strike 2
Foul
Ball 2
Adam
Heidegger:
Re: "If you have good products, you don't need marketing.
Yeah, that sounds like an engineer's quote, and rather naive. The "Intel Inside" marketing campaign and the success of the Pentium brand name are excellent examples of great marketing.
Adam
u. a. knowit:
Re: No new killer app = no need for a new INTC powered pc.
It's as simple as that, kids.
When the engineers develop new products that are ahead of their time, it then becomes the job of the Marketing department to convince buyers of their need for the product. Intel has some of the best Marketers around, so don't assume that a 4 GHz Pentium 5 won't be successful.
Adam
u. a. knowit:
Re: What Barrett should have done is come clean a few weeks ago as he very likely knew the GM problem then, maybe not, but it didn't sit well.
If you've followed INTC for very long, you would know that they don't issue warnings based on earnings - they provide guidance on revenues, GM %, expenses, etc. This quarter they met their revenue guidance and the GM % (though at the low end), so there was nothing to warn about.
spokeshave:
Re: will believe no statements about market share from either Intel or AMD until I see confirmation from an independent like Gartner or Mercury Research.
Why do you assume that these two are independent and not biased?
Adam
u. a. knowit:
Re: Ok, now who got it right? Bears win, estimates get the axe again tomorrow.
It's really dangerous betting on short-term market moves in this environment. Intel was already cut in half recently, and the markets seem to be resiting the bears this week. If IBM does good tomorrow, look out, Intel may actually do OK (and a double look out if they arrest a D.C. sniper suspect).
Adam
spokeshave:
Re: Jobs will not touch anything that even remotely smells like Wintel.
Maybe if he hates Wintel so much he should call up Bill Gates and ask him to stop selling Office 2001 for the Mac.
Adam
Tim:
OK - I guess the right question is "what has KEPT Apple from adopting Intel (or AMD) processors?" Someone else said it's a cloning issue, but I think Apple still has enough of a hold over their operating system that they would be able to differentiate their systems, even WITH an x86 CPU.
Adam
wbmw:
Re: Apple and PowerPC
Does anyone know why Apple refuses to evaluate Intel processors for their systems? Is the Mac OS so heavily tuned for PowerPC that it would be too much work to port, or is there some other reason? I think adding the "Intel Inside" marketing message to their advertising campaign would be great for sales (I'd even consider buying a Mac then).
Adam
wbmw:
Didn't Intel already take a one-time charge in anticipation of a loss in the $250M verdict? If so, and they prevail, they'll have to reverse the charge in a future quarter.
Adam
EP:
Re: I wrote some puts on QQQs this morning. Oct $18s. After next week I'm going to continue and perhaps get more agressive. I am willing to be heavily invested in the Qs below $20.
That seems like a very good strategy. I'd write QQQ puts, too, but I'm currently margined relatively heavily and I don't want the extra risk right now of owning naked puts. Good luck - I think it's a solid move.
Adam
All:
This morning I've closed out most of my covered call positions for nice gains. I expect at least a short-term spike in techs through earnings season, and then I'll write new covered calls (Jan '03 probably) to generate cash.
Adam
u. a. knowit:
Re: Revenue question somone asked : add $300M to the number WBMW thew at me when I spoke about the 1/2 B$ Revenue miss.
Huh?
wbmw:
Re: "The semiconductor industry would be more likely to see a recovery next year."
Sounds just like Barrett's comments from a few days ago. This sentiment sure seems better than previous statements such as "we really don't know when a recovery might take place." We'll have to see how the markets take it tomorrow.
Adam
fowler:
Let's see:
Monday - markets down, Intel up.
Tuesday - markets up, Intel down.
Wednesday - markets down, Intel up.
According to this, we should hope for a 1,000 point drop in the Dow tomorrow.
Adam
u. a. knowit:
How are you determining a "miss"? From the mid-point of Intel's guidance, from concensus revenue estimates, or from the low end of guidance? This makes a big difference, as a $200M "miss" from the mid-point is still well within Intel's revenue guidance.
Adam
All:
Good news for the market tomorrow? From WSJ on-line:
"A FEDERAL JUDGE approved President Bush's request to reopen West Coast ports, issuing a temporary restraning [sic] order ending a caustic 10-day labor lockout."
Adam
All:
Anyone have any thoughts on whether Intel should leave the NASDAQ? They're already a DOW-30 component. What does the NASDAQ do for Intel? There's now a stigma attached to the NASDAQ as an exchange for cheap, bad companies. I for one would like Intel to become "I" on the NYSE.
Adam
greg:
Re: [iIntel closes considerably down. Is anyone else as queasy as I am right now?
Probably a spillover effect from the CSCO downgrades. Also, a reversal from yesterday when the NASDAQ was down but Intel was up.
Adam
Bob:
Re: Again, that's getting shut off at the end of this week.
I'd suggest leaving the offer open for another month or so. Many of us are upset by the moderator fiasco over the past several weeks, and are still deciding on whether we want to pay for the subscription. IMO, if the moderation lightens up over the next month, I'll probably join - but not by the end of this week. Just a suggestion.
Adam
Semi:
Re: Does anybody know of the site where you can plug in your house location, and a few other pieces of data, and get back a "guess" on it's value??
Too bad Jim McMannis isn't over here - he'd tell you that your house is worth 3x whatever you paid for it, no matter where you live in the country.
Adam
subzero:
Moody's and the others have WAY too much power, IMO. Their opinions can literally force companies into bankruptcy as soon as they downgrade the debt to junk status. AMD better hope that doesn't happen.
Adam
Semi:
Re: Now I think that I'll cancel my appointment with the Bank tomorrow, and wait a little more...
I think a Fed rate cut was already factored into the financial markets (the exact date was probably the question), so I don't know that mortgage rates will change much.
Adam
All:
A rate cut tomorrow?
Adam
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/meetings/2002/20021007/advancedexp.htm
Advance Notice of a Portion of a Meeting under Expedited Procedures
It is anticipated that a portion of the closed meeting of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on Monday, October 7, 2002, will be held under expedited procedures, as set forth in section 26lb.7 of the Board's Rules Regarding Public Observation of Meetings, at the Board's offices at 20th Street and C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. The following items of official Board business are tentatively scheduled to be considered at that meeting.
Meeting date: October 7, 2002
Matters to be Considered:
1. Review and determination by the Board of Governors of the rates of discount to be charged by the Federal Reserve Banks.
Elmer:
I haven't paid for ihub yet, and I think I'm glad. The moderation is getting out of hand and is becoming annoying. I'm going back to SI for a couple of days. If things lighten up here, post over on SI's Intel thread and I'll check back in on ihub.
Adam
wbmw:
For those that are interested, here's the report of what happened with Bear Stearns order:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/breaking/breakingnewsarticle.asp?feed=OBR&Date=20021002&ID=...
Bear Stearns Enters Erroneous Sell Order
October 02, 2002 8:40:00 PM ET
By Nicole Maestri
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A slip of the finger led Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. (BSC) on Wednesday to erroneously enter an order to sell $4 billion worth of stocks, fueling an already tumbling market.
The order about 20 minutes before the closing bell was the result of a ``clerical error'' and should have been entered as $4 million, the New York Stock Exchange said in a statement. All but $622 million of the orders were canceled before execution, it said.
Bear Stearns told Reuters the error will have no material impact on the company and declined to comment further.
After a seesaw session, stocks sank in trading Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index fell about 3 points between 3:40 p.m. and 3:46 p.m. EDT to below 827. The index closed at 827.91, down 20 points on the day.
``When a large brokerage house like Bear Stearns sells a large quantity of anything, people assume Bear Stearns knows something and it will move the price,'' said Daniel Weaver, associate professor of finance at the Zicklin School of Business at New York's Baruch College. ``It was a bear sign from Bear Stearns.''
The NYSE said the sell orders were for $4 billion worth of ``S&P securities,'' in reference to stocks that are part of Standard & Poor's indices. It could not be reached for further clarification as to which stocks may have been affected.
``It's not very common,'' said Richard Repetto, an analyst with Putnam Lovell NBF, of seeing this type of error on the New York Stock Exchange. ``This is a human error; it's not an electronic error.''
A source familiar with the situation said the erroneous order was the fault of a clerk not a trader.
Weaver said he expects Bear Stearns to try to unwind, or cancel, the trades that were executed.
``But you have to have the other person willing to do it,'' he said. ``It depends on their relationship with the other brokers. Since it happens to everybody, some of them are going to be willing to do it to the extent that they can.''
This past June, shares of Nasdaq share dealer Knight Trading Group dropped more than 50 percent in before-the-bell trading after a software glitch triggered an accidental wave of selling in its own shares.
In May 2001, U.K. stocks tumbled shortly before the close after a Lehman Brothers dealer miskeyed a large sell order.
Errors like the one witnessed Wednesday tend to occur when clerks type in the wrong ticker symbol or the wrong price for a stock, Weaver said.
``I bet you everyone now tweaks their systems to make sure that they catch orders that are extraordinarily large,'' he said.
Duke:
ALL NYSE closing prices may be suspect today. CNBC reported that there was a clerical error at Bear Stearns at about 3:30 or so today. An order to sell $4M in shares (I think) was incorrectly entered as a sell of $4B. CNBC said this is the cause of the late-day drop, and Bear Stearns may be liable for about $600M of the mistate. Ouch.
Adam
spokeshave:
Re: You stated that AMD is now talking about "yield problems" and even went as far as to place those words in quotes. Are you sure those were the exact words?
Using lots of quotes is just Yousef's style - you could easily figure that out by examing several of his posts.
Adam
All:
Good Dell news:
http://money.cnn.com/2002/10/01/technology/dell/index.htm
Dell raises 3Q targets
Computer maker ups its revenue target, sees profits on the high end of prior forecast.
October 1, 2002: 5:03 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Dell Computer Corp. Tuesday raised the bar for its current quarter, forecasting revenue of $9.1 billion.
Last month, executives of Dell, the No. 2 supplier of personal computers, had forecast revenue of $8.9 billion for the quarter, the company's fiscal third.
Dell said earnings per share are likely to come in at 21 cents, which would be at the high end of its previously targeted range and more than 30 percent better than a year earlier.
Company founder and Chairman Michael Dell cited growth in shipments of servers and storage systems, which are relatively new product areas for the Round Rock, Texas-based computer maker.
Dell (DELL: Research, Estimates) stock rose to $1.13 to $25.77 in after-hours trading on Instinet from $24.64 at the regular close.
The company made the announcement in connection with its two-day analysts' meeting, which kicked off in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday.
Standing out from its competitors in the PC hardware industry, Dell has been gaining market share in its core markets while maintaining profitability and hitting its financial targets.
At the same time, Dell competitors such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: Research, Estimates) and Gateway (GTW: Research, Estimates) have been losing market share and disappointing investors with their quarterly results.
Much of Dell's performance during what has been one of the PC industry's most trying periods has been achieved through cost cutting. As have most other computer hardware makers, Dell has cut jobs, laying off more than 5,700 employees since early 2001.
Dell's build-to-order business model -- under which customers order their computers directly from the company, making for more efficient supply-chain management and lower manufacturing costs -- also has helped it keep prices low.
And analysts have been impressed by Dell's ability to leverage that model into other market segments, including servers and data-storage systems. The company last month also said it plans to work with Lexmark (LXK: Research, Estimates) to develop Dell-branded printers and has announced its intention to enter the handheld computer market as well.
The company's recent moves have drawn kudos from Wall Street. Of the 22 brokerage firms that track Dell, 12 rate its stock a "buy," three rate it a "strong buy," while seven have "hold" recommendations.
Earlier on Tuesday, Banc of America Securities upgraded Dell's shares to "buy" from "market perform," saying it is comfortable that the company has achieved a sustainable growth rate and praising Dell's recent entry into new market segments as proof that it can adapt its business model to take advantage of new profit opportunities.
It generally was expected that Dell would reiterate its previous financial targets during the meeting.
u.a. knowit:
What does Intel Ireland produce? I though it was mainly Pentium III - has that changed? I believe they're in the process of adding onto the site with an opening scheduled for 2004.
Adam
wbmw:
Re: Are you Adam Latham? EOM
Yes
Saved by Qualcomm?
http://money.cnn.com/2002/09/19/markets/afterbell/index.htm
Qualcomm may just be enough to keep the index above that dubious mark. Qualcomm (QCOM: Research, Estimates), the wireless technology company, late Thursday upped its forecasts for fourth-quarter chip shipments because of strong demand.
Shares of the company jumped $2.03, or 8 percent, to $27.76 after hours.