The news continues to look grim for chip stock Intel (INTC), as word about sales in some venues emerges, especially when compared to the competition. Worse, the news about layoffs is also on the rise, as numbers keep climbing. These points together hit Intel somewhat, and shares slipped fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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New reports say that Intel is having a very tough time keeping up with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), as even some of AMD’s least-popular offerings are still beating Intel sales in at least some venues. A report from Mindfactory revealed that AMD had about 94% of CPU market revenue. Worse for Intel, even the entirety of the last three generations of sales was not sufficient to overtake the AM4 platform at AMD.
Last week’s numbers were even more conclusively weighted in AMD’s favor; Intel sold around 150 units last week. AMD sold around 1,725 units in that same time frame, easily blowing Intel out of the water. In fact, reports noted, out of the top 20 processors sold last week, AMD was responsible for 19 of them.
Layoffs Stagger
With revenue suddenly looking a bit shaky, Intel’s plans to cut costs to the bone—and possibly beyond—seem to only intensify. New reports say the number of layoffs planned at Intel’s Arizona plant has only climbed, with an original Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act document calling for 172 layoffs at the Arizona facility. The latest numbers have swelled to 696 employees out the door.
The numbers in aggregate, meanwhile, are getting unnerving. Since last August, reports noted, Intel has cut 5,400 jobs in Oregon alone, and nearly half of those—about 2,400—just hit in the last week. New reports peg the company’s current workforce in Oregon at under 18,000. Intel is not stopping there, either, with word out of the company saying more cuts are to come on top of those already seen. This is prompting concern within Oregon itself, as finding replacements for those jobs will be difficult for many and outright impossible for some.
Is Intel a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on INTC stock based on one Buy, 26 Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 32.15% loss in its share price over the past year, the average INTC price target of $21.60 per share implies 6.31% downside risk.
