Replies to post #143130 on Intel Corp (INTC)

[Tim May]

"Counting chickens before they hatch"

I have no knowledge about whether Intel was projecting margins based on the Altera deal, but it seems likely. It's common for companies to project based on their best and most "fiducially accurate" estimates of what will happen, not based on whether they are "counting chickens before they hatch."

For example, AT&T several times projected financial based on the expected approval of the DirecTV acquisition. Here's just one of them, from several months prior to the closing of the deal:

"AT&T had earlier given guidance of a minimum of $1.6 billion in annual synergies to be achieved by the third year of the completed DIRECTV transaction. The company talked about these synergies when it announced the DIRECTV transaction in May 2014."

(http://marketrealist.com/2015/04/directv-transaction-att-now-expects-higher-synergies/ )

In fact, a case can be made that if Intel has every reason to expect the Altera deal to be approved and to close in due time, then failing to include this likelihood in projections would be misleading to shareholders.

"Well, yeah, we in the company knew the deal was gonna happen, but since it hadn't actually happened as of the analyst meeting last week, we didn't include it. That $4 pop on Wednesday was _sweet!_ Some nice action on the calls!"

--Tim