Advanced Micro Devices Plunges on Warning

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD Quote) plunged 19.7% in preopen Instinet trading. After the close Thursday the chipmaker said it expects second-quarter earnings of 3 to 5 cents a share, far below the 27 cents a share that analysts had been expecting, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

The shortfall accompanies a 17% decline in sales from first-quarter levels. The company had said it expected sales to fall 10%. Advanced Micro also said that weak sales of flash memory hurt sales.

Rival Intel (INTC Quote) was down 3.7%.