EARNINGS ROUNDUP / INTEL

Intel Corp. may report a loss in the first quarter, breaking a more than 21-year run of profitability, Chief Executive Paul Otellini told employees.

“We are not going to wake up in six months with everything rosy again,” Otellini wrote last week in an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News. After 87 quarters of profit, the first quarter is “too close to call,” the memo said.

Slumping demand for personal computers has forced Intel to run its factories below capacity, making them less profitable. The Santa Clara, Calif., company last week reported a 90% drop in fourth-quarter net income. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had estimated that Intel would report profit of $228.9 million in the first quarter.

Intel doesn’t comment on confidential employee communications, spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.