Intel Stands by Revenue Projection

Intel Corp. is confident it will meet fourth-quarter revenue forecasts of $6.2 billion to $6.8 billion, but is less certain when the economic downturn will end, Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said at a technology conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Wall Street analysts on average have forecast revenue of $6.56 billion for the No. 1 semiconductor maker in the quarter that ends in December.

Bryant said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent business downturn had made forecasting more difficult, but Intel management is “getting more and more comfortable every day” with its revenue projection.

In addition, after having to make several warnings over the last year that results would fall short of official forecasts, Intel now feels safer offering broad ranges rather than more specific numbers in its financial guidance, Bryant said at the Credit Suisse First Boston conference.

Operating in a climate of declining chip sales, Intel has become increasingly focused on getting returns from all the investments it makes rather than indiscriminately spending on nifty new technologies, Bryant said.

“The world has changed on spending on e-business for e-business’ sake, to focusing on the bottom line,” he said of some of the newer Internet technologies Intel had deployed in-house. The company is less likely to invest in new technology unless it would bring down labor requirements and add savings to the bottom line, he said.

Bryant declined to discuss Intel’s plans for capital spending next year, but said internal spending on information technology would be about the same as last year.

He said, however, that more of those IT dollars next year would go to personal computer upgrades, as opposed to networking, which was emphasized in the last year.

Shares of Intel rose 44 cents on Tuesday to close at $32.31 on Nasdaq.