Intel profit lifts industry hopes

       Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker, offered further evidence on Tuesday that the global economy was indeed on the mend.
       The company reported a third-quarter profit that easily surpassed Wall Street's estimates, and its revenue was well ahead of the projection that Intel offered investors at the end of August.
       "The current quarter looks promising as well," Intel said, and the company lifted its revenue forecast to about $500 million above analysts' estimates.
       Intel is a bellwether for trends in the technology industry and the economy as a whole. Its computer chips are the logic engines in most personal computers and in larger computers in data centers that power e-mail, electronic commerce and the Internet.
       So Intel's performance suggests that economic prospects are brightening,analysts said.
       "Technology should benefit first and foremost in a global economic recovery,"said Edward Yardeni, an independent economist and investment strategist.
       Intel, based in Santa Clara, California,reported third-quarter revenue of $9.4 billion, well ahead of the analysts' consensus of $9 billion, as compiled by Thomson Reuters. Still, Intel's sales remained 8% below last year.
       Yet Intel executives emphasised the unfolding trend. The third quarter's revenue was 17% higher than in the second quarter, the largest rate of improvement over those quarters in more than 30 years.
       Net income was nearly $1.9 billion,or 33 cents a share. The Wall Street estimate was 28 cents a share, and that was after analysts had steadily lifted their earnings forecasts in recent months. In July, the consensus estimate was 15 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.In the year-earlier quarter, Intel reported earnings of $2 billion, or 35 cents a share.
       Intel's recovery has been most robust in fast-growing, developing economies like China. But even the mature economies of the United States and Western Europe are showing signs of real improvement, with America slightly ahead of Europe, Stacy J. Smith, Intel's chief financial officer, said in an interview.
       "The personal computer market is decisively recovering, although con-sumers, not companies, are doing most of the buying," Smith noted.
       The upbeat third-quarter report is the latest evidence of growing optimism at the big chip maker. In July, Intel reported that its second-quarter results were stronger than it had expected, even though sales were down 15% from the previous year.
       Yet the downward trend seemed to be broken, cheering both Wall Street and the technology industry.
       Then, at the end of August, Intel pointed to stronger demand for its microprocessors and chipsets and raised its revenue projection for the third quarter by $500 million, to about $9 billion.
       Investors anticipate that technology companies, led by Intel, will lead the way out of the recovery. Earnings estimates for all the companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index are projected to be down 25% in the third quarter,compared with a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters. But technology company profits are expected to be down only 14%.
       In July, analysts had expected technology sector profits to be off 20% in the third quarter.