NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Intel (INTC) - Get Report were falling 4.2% to $30.97 Thursday morning after the chipmaker lowered its first quarter revenue forecast.

Intel said it now expects revenue of $12.8 billion, plus or minus $300 million (a range of $12.5 billion to $13.1 billion), for the first quarter. The chipmaker previously expected first quarter revenue of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million (a range of $13.2 billion to $14.2 billion).

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Intel to report revenue of $13.7 billion for the first quarter.

Intel said the lower revenue forecast is due to "weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs and lowers than expected inventory levels across the PC supply chain." The company believes the lower demand and inventory patterns are a result of lower than expected Windows XP refresh in small and medium businesses and "challenging macroeconomic and currency conditions."

TheStreet Ratings team rates INTEL CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate INTEL CORP (INTC) a BUY. This is driven by some important positives, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• Powered by its strong earnings growth of 45.09% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 37.67% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, INTC should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
• INTEL CORP has improved earnings per share by 45.1% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, INTEL CORP increased its bottom line by earning $2.33 versus $1.88 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.40 versus $2.33).
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has greatly exceeded that of the S&P 500, but is less than that of the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry average. The net income increased by 39.5% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $2,625.00 million to $3,661.00 million.
• Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 10.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 6.4%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• INTC's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.24 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.19, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: INTC Ratings Report