From Dow Jones Newswire:
"SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Dow Jones)--Intel Corp. (INTC) Friday raised its sales forecast for the third quarter, saying its processor business is generally trending higher, while demand for communications products remains soft."
"In a press release, the world's largest chip maker said it expects third-quarter revenue between $7.3 billion and $7.8 billion, compared with its previous forecast of $6.9 billion to $7.5 billion."
And just a month ago Intel saw no signs of increased demand (except for back to school sales which they were relying on). Yet Dell is slashing prices and HP sales missed forecasts (on agressive pricing) - so where's the demand coming from that only Intel now sees, but didn't a month ago?
This might be the back-to-school cyclical demand Intel mentioned - Again from the Q2 conf call:
Typically the second half of the year is better for Intel as it benefits from the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons. Bryant said that historically Intel's revenue in the third quarter increases 5% to 7% sequentially. The midpoint of the company's third-quarter sales target, which stands at $6.9 billion to $7.5 billion, represents a 6% increase in sales, noted Bryant.
+DJ Intel CFO: All Businesses Performing Better Than Expectedas opposed to earlier this AM
"while demand for communications products remains soft."This reminds me of 1999 when Intel couldn't seem to manage it's expectations and Barrett was making a lot of unsubstantiated boasts about how Intel would clean SUNW's clock. Who's at the helm over there?