Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is likely to have a tough road ahead, according to analysts at J.P.Morgan. In a report issued to investors this morning, they said even though the company released guidance for a seasonal decline in revenues for the first quarter of this year, the analysts see a potential for even greater downside risk to the company’s guidance, which also included above-seasonal growth after the first quarter.
The analysts say their “latest datapoints from the Asia PC food chain” show that demand for PCs is tracking below the seasonal decline during the current quarter, which has been a continuing trend since last year. As a result, they believe that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s guidance for increased demand and revenue after the first quarter is “too optimistic.”
The analysts remain Neutral on the stock and have kept their $19 per share price target because they believe Intel should “adopt a more cautious stance.” They point out that “almost every company in the Asia PC food chain guided for below seasonal PC shipment growth” during the first quarter of this year.
J.P.Morgan analysts also said that although they expected Intel’s new Haswell platform to push ultrabook innovation, they don’t believe that Intel will see any benefit from it until the second quarter of this year; the launch of that platform isn’t expected until June. In addition, they said there hasn’t been a new processor that has driven demand for PCs in more than 10 years.
They also believe Intel could fall victim to an inventory correction sometime this year because of a supply-demand imbalance.
Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) fell 1 percent in Thursday morning trades.
