Tag Archives: intc

Apple Supplier Broadcom, Tech Giant Cisco Pitted In Data Center War

Tech giant Cisco Systems ‘ ( CSCO ) 16-nanometer data center semiconductor could slug Apple ( AAPL ) supplier Broadcom ( AVGO ), which is ramping its 28-nm Tomahawk technology, an RBC analyst said Monday. Broadcom’s Tomahawk will go for $600-$700 per chip, replacing the outmoded Trident chip that costs less than $500, on average. Unlike Trident, however, Tomahawk won’t win across-the-board vs. Cisco, RBC’s Amit Daryanani wrote. Cisco recently unveiled its CloudScale application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), in direct competition with data center chipmakers Broadcom, Cavium ( CAVM ), Intel ( INTC ), Marvell Technology Group ( MRVL ) and Mellanox Technologies ( MLNX ). In the past, Broadcom’s Trident won “across the board” at Cisco. This time, Cisco is likely to use its own CloudScale ASIC in its Nexus 9000, 9200 and 9300 platforms, leaving the 9500 to hold the Tomahawk silicon, Daryanani said. Other users include Hewlett-Packard Enterprise ( HPE ), Arista Networks ( ANET ) and Juniper Networks ( JNPR ), which had a two-year head start to begin ramping Tomahawk-based solution, Daryanani wrote. He sees a five- to six-year lifespan for the product. Still, “we believe Cisco encroachment into the merchant silicon market needs to be monitored by Broadcom investors,” he wrote. “For now, we continue to believe Broadcom’s solutions are the market-leaders for cloud/data center spenders.” Daryanani maintained his 180 price target and top performer rating on Broadcom stock. Shares rose a fraction Monday, to 152.89, on a day when Apple released new products that didn’t represent huge advances and were expected. Cisco stock fell a fraction on Wall Street Monday, while Apple was flat.

Apple Has Been A Loser Since Joining The Dow — That’s Not A Surprise

Apple ( AAPL ) marked its first anniversary on the Dow Jones Industrial Average Friday with a fractional gain. But over the past year, the iPhone titan’s shares have fallen 17.6%, proving critics right when they say that stocks that join the blue-chip index are often past their prime. Ironically, AT&T ( T ), which was kicked out of the blue-chip index to make room for Apple, has risen 14.8% over the past year. Apple has had a tough year. Its Apple Watch has not been a blockbuster, while iPhone sales disappointed in the holiday period and should fall year-over-year in the current quarter. Apple will unveil a new, smaller smartphone at a Monday event, along with other products. But some analysts say that Apple’s event won’t excite . Apple’s slide is hardly unusual. Intel ( INTC ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) were added to the Dow at the tail end of the dot-com boom. Microsoft marked time for the next 15 years, finally hitting new highs late last year. Intel is still well off its all-time highs. Bank of America ( BAC ) stands out. Added to the Dow in early 2008, its shares crashed 91% over the next year during the financial crisis. The Dow dropped Bank of America in late 2013, only to see its shares shoot up 17% over the following year. Alcoa ( AA ) and Hewlett-Packard, kicked out at the same time as BofA, rose 96% and 73%, respectively, in the next 12 months. But joining the Dow doesn’t have to be the end. Nike ( NKE ), one of the late 2013 additions, popped 17% in the next year and continued to outperform until its December 2015 peak. Nike reports earnings on Tuesday.

Notebook Blahs, Broadwell Timing Could Slug Intel Q1: Analyst

A Needham analyst trimmed his Intel ( INTC ) Q1 sales views by $500 million Tuesday amid declining PC sales and delayed data center sales, and ahead of the March 31 Broadwell CPU launch. He retained his estimates for the balance of the year, however. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Intel stock was up a fraction, near 31.50. But shares are down 9% this year on Wall Street due to concerns that PC sales will hit a slump in Q1. Needham’s N. Quinn Bolton is the most recent in a series of analysts to cut expectations. For Q1, Bolton sees $13.6 billion in sales and 46 cents earnings per share ex items, vs. earlier views for $14.1 billion and 50 cents. The largest chunk — $400 million — came out of Intel’s client computing group. Cumulative notebook shipments from Taiwan’s five leading notebook makers fell 32.7% sequentially and 15.7% year over year in January and February, Bolton wrote in a research report. Notebook shipments haven’t been flat in March since 2011. If they are in 2016, he models a 23.3% sequential and 9.7% year-over-year decline in Q1 shipments. Bolton expects Q1 notebook shipments to decline 14.2% quarter over quarter and 3.5% vs. the year-earlier quarter. For Intel, that means $7.44 billion in sales vs. earlier expectations for $7.84 billion. The new model would be relatively flat year over year. He also chopped $100 million off his data center group expectations, noting a potential pause in enterprise data center shopping ahead of the launch of new Intel server chip Broadwell this month. Last year, Intel pulled in $3.7 billion in data center sales. Intel Might Soon Update Its Guidance After Q1, Bolton sees a return to spending. “The weak notebook shipments likely are a result of inventory clearance in the PC channel, and we expect data center group revenue to rebound in Q2 following the Broadwell launch,” he wrote. “We are not changing our Q2, Q3 and Q4 estimates at this time.” Intel could update guidance this week before entering a quarterly quiet period Friday. Per company policy, Intel updates guidance if business appears to be tracking outside the range of original expectations. In January, Intel guided to $14.1 billion, plus or minus $500 million, in current-quarter sales. “Should the company enter the quiet period with no revision to guidance, our new estimates will likely prove conservative,” Bolton wrote. Last month, Nomura analyst Romit Shah lowered his Q1 sales forecast for Intel , modeling a 20% sequential decline vs. earlier views for a 7% decline. In January, a Citigroup analyst modeled a 20%-25% quarter-over-quarter fall in Q1 notebook shipments. But, like Bolton, Shah retained his buy rating on Intel stock, noting Q1 is typically a “back-end loaded quarter.”