Investing.com - Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations on Thursday. But disappointing revenue and guidance sent shares slumping after hours. The shares were down 7.1% to $46.23. The shares were up $1.82, or 3.8%, in regular trading.
The chipmaker reported earnings per share of $1.28 on revenue of $18.66 billion, up 9.4% Analysts polled by Investing.com expected EPS of $1.22 on revenue of $19.02 billion. That compared to EPS of $1.08 on revenue of $17.05 billion in the year ago quarter.
Investors were disappointed that first-quarter guidance came in at 81 cents a share. The S&P Capital IQ estimate was $1.01. First-quarter revenue was projected at $16 billion, while the estimate was $17.4 billion. Earnings guidance for the year was a bit better: $4.60 a share. The Street expects $4.54. But revenue, projected at $71.5 billion, was lower than the Street estimate of $73.22.
Fourth-quarter revenue was was held back by weaker modem demand, economic slowing in China, cloud customers able to absorb demand and weakening demand for NAND chips.
"The macro environment does not look good at the moment and if it gets worse, Intel could see a further downside to its outlook," said Kinngai Chan, an analyst with Summit Insights Group.
Intel has turned to the server chips it supplies data center operators for growth in recent years. However, fourth-quarter revenue in that higher-margin business came in at $6.07 billion, below expectations of $6.35 billion, according to financial and data analytics firm FactSet.
Intel said the data center business missed expectations on softer demand from China and slower cloud sales.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.