See allLatest Trade Alerts

Market Preview: Halfway to May

Written by: Michael Baron 04/16/12 - 9:12 PM EDT
Tickers in this article: GS RIMM ^DJI ^GSPC ^IXIC INTC AAPL

Thirty of the 53 analysts covering Intel rate the stock at either hold (26) or underperform (4) and the 12-month median price target is $28, so valuation would appear to be a bit of a concern on the sell side. Intel shares closed Monday at $28.41, up 1.1%.

UBS is expecting an in-line performance, although it has a "bias" to the upside as hard disk drive supply constraints start to ease. The firm, which has a buy rating and $34 price target on Intel, thinks guidance for the second quarter should be strong as the company is poised to release its more energy-efficient Ivy Bridge processors later this month.

"We expect the trends from 1Q to support solid 2Q growth as Ivy Bridge ramps; the return towards normal hard drive supply and pricing along with a mix shift to ultrabooks (~10% of 2QE ODM original device manufacturers notebooks) support potential upside," said UBS, which is currently forecasting earnings of 54 cents a share from Intel in the second quarter on revenue of $13.55 billion."

More Headlines

The firm added that its recent channel checks in Asia suggested that pricing is holding up well.

"Our Asian disti distribution checks show Intel processor ASPs average selling prices remain firm, which we believe reflects low channel inventory for both PC products and processors. One disti contact indicated overall semiconductor inventories are down to 18 days with CPUs central processing units at 23 days -- a record low," UBS said. "PC shipments are also looking marginally better as HDD shortages ease and are expected to be completely resolved in 2Q."

Check out TheStreet's quote page for Intel for year-to-date share performance, analyst ratings, earnings estimates and much more.

Goldman Sachs(GS) also reports its first-quarter results early Tuesday, and the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for a profit of $3.55 a share on revenue of $9.45 billion. The financials have been a bit of a mixed bag so far with JPMorgan Chase(JPM) getting dinged on higher costs, but Citigroup(C) able to rally despite a topline miss.