Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) is set to report second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday. Estimize is currently more bullish than Wall Street on the chip-maker, calling for an EPS number of $0.52 a share compared to $0.50 for Wall Street and revenue of $13.28 billion compared to $13.04 for Wall Street.
Intel had a poor showing last quarter, as earnings plummeted nearly 45% from the quarter prior. Much of this stemmed from a slowdown in desktop computer sales, Intel’s primary source of revenue. Unfortunately for investors PC sales have continued to decline this quarter as well, down 11.8% year over year according to research firm IDC.
Intel’s Q1 Business Outlook called for a revenue midpoint of $13.2 billion for this quarter, noting that poor desktop PC sales will be offset by improvements in the data center and internet of things markets. These sectors may have been further improved by Intel’s $17 billion acquisition of semiconductor maker Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) last month, which analysts claimed was driven to bolster revenue growth in the data center business.
One sector to watch going into tomorrow’s report is how Intel plans on capitalizing on the increasingly-dominant mobile device market, especially in Asia. In October, Intel took a 20% stake in Chinese tech giant Tsinghua Unigroup and the companies announced plans to cooperate on furthering mobile technologies in China. Tsinghua was again in the news this week for its recent $23 billion takeover bid for Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU).