The PC Chip Business May Surprise as Intel Reports Earnings Thursday

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Intel’s PC processor business could come in better-than-expected.

The Wall Street consensus estimate is that Intel today will report revenue of $11.97 billion with adjusted earnings per share of one cent for the June quarter, according to FactSet. Analysts’ estimate for the current quarter’s revenue is $12.66 billion.

“We expect INTC to report slightly higher results and in line guidance, as channel feedback indicates pull-ins related to PC and servers continued, as did robust server demand trends,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh wrote earlier this week.

Intel uses the x86 chip architecture in making the processors that act as the main computing brains for PCs and servers.

In recent weeks, Intel has been laying off workers at different sites. The company is likely to quantify the total number of job cuts when it reports its financial results.

The company’s stock is up 17% this year, versus the 12% gain for the iShares Semiconductor exchange-traded fund.

Write to Tae Kim at tae.kim@barrons.com