Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) will report its first quarter earnings this afternoon, and investors aren’t expecting much. What they’re most interested in right now is who Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s next CEO will be. Current CEO Paul Otellini will be retiring next month, and whoever lands the position will have his or her hands full, so to speak.
Currently, there’s plenty of speculation about who Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) will name as its next CEO, but everyone agrees that it needs to be someone who can focus on growing the company’s mobile business. Last month CNET reported that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s three finalists for the positions were current COO Brian Krzanich, current chief product officer Dadi Perlmutter and former Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha.
Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) have fallen more than 20 percent in the last year as sales of PC’s have declined, putting pressure on Intel’s chip business. According to MarketWatch, less than a third of analysts covering Intel have the stock listed as a buy.
But those who do remain positive are looking for Intel’s Haswell processors to turn things around. Demand for touch-enabled devices could increase demand for the Haswell chips. Analysts who are negative on shares of Intel, on the other hand, predict that increases in capital expenditures will result in the company having to go after lower-margin chips as PC demand continues to decline.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s first quarter report is expected to show earnings of 40 cents per share on $12.6 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
As of the moment of this writing, shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) are up 1 percent.
