“Resetting to a new baseline”
There were no nasty surprises in Intel's full Q4 financial results; they were consistent with the preliminary announcement on 7th January.
Revenue and margin were both down, but the 90 percent fall in net income, to $234 million, was exaggerated by having to write down a billion dollars of its investment in WiMAX company Clearwire.
For the year revenue was only down two percent and Intel even managed to increase its operating income by nine percent. Net income was down 24 percent, however, to $5.3 billion, primarily as a result of the Q4 plunge.
Understandably, Intel didn't feel too confident about making any predictions, but it did reveal that internally it's planning around $7 billion in revenue for Q1. There was no commitment to a figure for the year.
"The economy and the industry are in the process of resetting to a new baseline from which growth will resume," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "Intel has weathered difficult times in the past, and we know what needs to be done to drive our success moving forward. Our new technologies and new products will help us ignite market growth and thrive when the economy recovers."
