Analyst Says Intel Poised To Take Back Market Share from AMD
Cody Acree, managing director at Stifel, Nicolaus, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he believes Intel is poised for a rebound.
“Intel has been losing share since mid-2004,” Acree said Tuesday. “2007 is the year where Intel finally takes share and it finally starts to show up in the stock price through the remainder of 2007.”
He expects inventories to remain about flat and perhaps increase a little in the first half of the year because, in part, Microsoft’s launch of its new Vista operating system has been “lackluster at best.”
“As we head into the back half (of the year), we believe, as Intel takes share, they need to have products ready for that,” he said. “They’ll build their inventories a bit. Better cost structure continues to build their share gains and we believe that drives the stock.”
He said he would now buy Intel rather than AMD .
“I think AMD is reaching a price where it’s attractive,” Acree said. “The problem is I’m not finding a period anytime in the near term where I think I can raise estimates. If anything, they may yet need to come down. So, that leaves me without a real catalyst for AMD in at least the next couple quarters.”
Intel is scheduled to report earnings today. Analysts look for earnings of 22 cents a share on revenue of about $9 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
