Ultimately what matters is the stock price. Earnings growth is closely tied. Sales and sales growth would be further down the list. Pets.com had a lot of sales. It's just that they lost money on just about every sale.
Essentially you're claiming that a second-tier indicator is more important than the price of the investment itself.
Anyhow, you don't seem very good at predicting AMD's stock price, so why should anyone take your latest "warnings" seriously?
re: what makes you think AMD will be available for $17 in January?
This is a very cash intensive business. AMD has done well, but I think they will have problems proving longer term profits. I think Q4 may bear that out, maybe not. If not Q4, then I suspect a few quarters down the road. Intel's PR campaign has just started and will run throughout '06. AMD will have problems getting better press and the lawsuit, for one, won't help, as will the load from Spansion (even after the IPO). They are also carrying a lot of debt that needs to be paid down. The thing that will keep them alive is the new fab, which they need desperately. As well as depreciation.
A price of $17 is pretty much on the long term growth curve (which occillates a lot which gives good ST results) so it's just a better price to get in at than at present.
A better question would be: Why would I want to buy AMD at $17?
Wrong on the price (by over 2X), wrong on the debt situation.
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