Intel Corp (INTC)

[Unkwn]

Nothing I say should be taken seriously and I know it. That's the difference between me and the people who spend their days and nights in here. Nothing they say should be taken seriously either, but they don't know it.

What's your point? That we can't predict upswings in a quarter's range? That's something left to the big guys who know how to check the channels for sales, stuffing etc. What we discuss is the broader picture of the company, where it fails, where it succeeds and where it makes advancements. Nothing of this is reflected in the current share price, but as long term share holders, this is most important, not short term moves of the stock price.

Indeed, I am holding Intel shares since beginning of 2013 and bought some more at beginning of 2014. I think Ashraf holds his shares for at least the same time, if not longer. I remember, on the other side, that you sold a large stake just recently, right? What was the reason again? Didn't like the face of the CEO or something?

I am not timing the stock and my entry was lucky from today's perspective. I am also patient and not in for the short term. I bought Intel because I thought it was good value and thought fears of a dying PC market were overdone and Intel's chances in mobile looked really good by that time. Now, the PC market was worse than I expected it to be, also due to Intel's slow motion improvements on the processor side. The mobile engagement was a complete flop, so also there, Intel didn't impress at all. Next thing to watch closely is the Altera acquisition. Intel looks like to screw that up also. Still, there are new business opportunities, like foundry and memory and I will wait to see if Intel, finally, succeeds in one of these areas.

This still went well, simply due to the fact that the stock was good value at that time, which I knew. The company has strong fundamentals and a big moat in its core business which offered good downside protection. That is something I remember Ashraf to have said from the beginning and it held true.

Still, we have to value the company on what it tries to achieve and what it really achieved so far. And that is very little from my perspective and if it keeps performing that way, it will be very hard for Intel to stay competitive, due to reasons we have outlined multiple times here on the board already and probably you should listen to more closely. Intel needs new business to fill its fabs, to put it simply. Otherwise the company will be screwed in the long term and is a bad investment, independent of the face of the CEO and recent up- or downswings.