Intel Corp (INTC)

[Unkwn]

Record fourth-quarter revenue was $17.1 billion and record full-year revenue was $62.8 billion. Excluding McAfee, fourth-quarter revenue grew 8 percent year-over-year with data-centric revenue up 21 percent, and full-year revenue grew 9 percent year-over-year.

Numbers better than expected. To bring it into context, though: 2012, Revenue was at 53bln, compared to the 62 bln in 2017. That's about 16% increase in revenue. That's ok. On the other hand, net income stood at 11bln in 2012 and 9.6 in 2017. That means, margins are getting worse. At the same time, the share price almost doubled since then. Not an Intel exclusive thing but more to show the current market folly. Intel basically stagnated for the past six years.

In 2017, Intel generated a record $22 billion cash from operations and returned nearly $9 billion to shareholders.

That is impressive, but again, compared to the 18.8 bln operating cashflow in 2012, not that impressive as an increase (17%). 11bln of free cash flow should be enough to keep up with the crowd in semiconductor tech but isn't enough for leadership. Intel would be wise not to pay any dividend to shareholders but instead invest heavily into new fabs and foundry. Many shareholders wouldn't like that move, though. Just too short sighted