Intel: Price Targets, Estimates Rise; Do You Believe in 2012?

Shares of Intel (INTC) are up 45 cents, or 1.7%, at $26.08, after the company last night beat consensus estimates for Q4 and forecast the current quarter’s revenue in line with analysts’ average estimate.

But the biggest item for people to digest last night was the forecast for revenue to rise this year by mid- to high single digits on a percentage basis. That was well above estimates as of yesterday, which seemed to be in the vicinity of 3%.

JoAnne Feeney, Longbow Research: Reiterates a Buy rating on Intel shares, while raising her price target to $30 from $28. Enterprise demand and emerging-market demand will sustain computing demand overall, she avers. “While the next quarter or two are likely to fall short of recent trends�both due to the HDD shortage and Intel�s delayed delivery of Ivy Bridge�we expect Intel to see outpaced growth in 2H12 and to deliver revenue growth of 8-9% for the year.” Feeney raised her 2012 estimate to $58.25 billion in revenue and EPS of $2.74, up from a prior $57.74 billion and $2.73 per share.

David Wong, Wells Fargo: Reiterates an Outperform rating and raises his target price range from a prior $28 to $34 to $30 to $36. “We thought that Intel�s 2012 outlook was reassuring in the near term with exciting and very positive longer term implications,” he writes. As regards the year outlook, Wong writes, “With news from other chip companies suggesting to us the end of the broader chip inventory correction and generally stable end markets, we think that Intel�s guidance is reasonable. Intel�s guidance implies a sharp ramp in revenues in the second half of 2012, raising the possibility of strong top line growth for the full year 2013.” Wong is maintaing his 2012 revenue estimate of $58.2 billion and his $2.53 EPS estimate.

Hans Mosesmann, Raymond James: Reiterates a Market Perform rating on the shares, writing that the company’s year sales outlook is “needlessly aggressive, in our view.” “We fail to see the upside in such a bullish posture, but Intel gets an A+ on the conviction scale.” Still, Mosesmann raises his 2012 estimate to $57.2 billion in revenue and $2.53 per share in profit from a prior $56 billion and $2.47 per share.

Quinn Bolton, Needham & Co.: Reiterates a Hold rating, writing that he sees no reason to own the shares given that “EPS will likely remain approximately flat in 2013 on higher revenue as GM contracts to reflect higher start-up costs,” and given that EPS is “likely to be approximately flat from 2011 to 2013.” Bolton raised his 2012 estimate to $57 billion in revenue and $2.45 per share in profit from a prior $56 billion and $2.40 per share.