AMD Seen Beating 1Q Consensus

Advanced Micro Devices, set to report its first-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, is seen surpassing Wall Street expectations, at least according to one bullish analyst.

Author:: Andrea Tse
Publish date:: Apr 15, 2010 2:23 PM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) - Get Report is set to report its first-quarter earnings after the closing bell Thursday, and at least one analyst sees the company beating Wall Street expectations.

Last week,

UBS

(UBS) - Get Report

brightened its outlook on the chip maker based on positive end-market trends.

UBS analyst Uche Orji, who has a buy rating on AMD stock and a 12-month price target of $13, believes AMD "continues to benefit from Intel's focus to push upmarket with its new core processors." The analyst also noted that AMD has logged lower costs on its shift to the 45 nanometer-circuit chips and "higher fab utilization."

"Based on our recent industry checks, we expect a smaller than seasonal decline and benign processor and graphics pricing trends supported by solid end market demand," Orji noted.

UBS raised its first-quarter 2010 estimates for AMD's sales to $1.58 billion from $1.5 billion. On the bottom line, the firm left its target at breakeven for the quarter. Both numbers are above the consensus, which is calling for a loss of 7 cents a share on revenue of $1.54 billion, according to a

Thomson Reuters

survey of analysts.

In a recently issued report to investors,

Goldman Sachs

said the traditional battle between AMD and archrival

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

may no longer take center stage. Increasingly, Intel is facing a stiffer test from ARM-based micro-processing technology for tablets.

"The iPad uses an ARM-based processor developed internally by

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

, and offers productivity apps previously restricted to notebook PCs," Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell wrote. If the iPad succeeds, Mitchell continued, "it will broaden the competitive landscape in mobile computing to Intel vs. ARM-based suppliers."

-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York

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