錯過智能手機(jī),下一代芯片“難產(chǎn)”,英特爾如何重新贏得投資者的信心?
英特爾的新首席執(zhí)行官司睿博繼續(xù)開展宣傳活動,以期重燃外界對這位芯片制造巨頭的信心,但成效十分有限。
這是英特爾兩年多以來第一次舉行“投資者日”活動,公司邀請了華爾街分析師和基金經(jīng)理前往加州圣克拉拉總部,參加了三個小時的宣講活動。該活動的目標(biāo)是讓投資者們相信,英特爾有著良好的長期計劃,能夠與英偉達(dá)、AMD以及其他開始搶奪公司主導(dǎo)地位的公司進(jìn)行競爭。
司睿博第一個上臺。在他結(jié)束演講時,英特爾股票下跌了2.5%,至49.24美元。即便如此,公司股價自年初以來依然增長了6%,但落后于標(biāo)普500指數(shù)15%的增幅,與AMD 47%和英偉達(dá)30%的大幅增長更是相距甚遠(yuǎn)。
英特爾在過去幾年中發(fā)展的一直都不是很順暢,它不僅錯過了智能手機(jī)革命,而且遲遲拿不出新一代芯片的制造技術(shù)。司睿博的前任科再奇因業(yè)績疲軟以及與另一名英特爾員工的“自愿親密關(guān)系”,于去年被英特爾炒了魷魚。然后司睿博在4月披露,英特爾難以實現(xiàn)其2019年25億美元的營收預(yù)測。
這位善于言辭的首席執(zhí)行官在周三的開場宣講中說:“如今,我確實要承認(rèn),我們讓各位失望了,也為自己感到失望……我們是一個立足于信任的團(tuán)隊,我們深知必須贏得并維持你們的信任。”
司睿博是英特爾前任首席財務(wù)官,英特爾在經(jīng)過7個月的搜索之后才決定提拔其擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官。他表示,自己一直在密切關(guān)注英特爾在過去幾年中為推動公司發(fā)展而開始采取的舉措。英特爾已經(jīng)關(guān)閉了其智能手機(jī)基帶業(yè)務(wù),而該業(yè)務(wù)是2018年蘋果iPhone手機(jī)系列的獨家芯片提供方。司睿博指出,他還在評估是否繼續(xù)支持存儲芯片項目,它的盈利能力可能和英特爾的設(shè)想相距甚遠(yuǎn)。
在蘋果與競爭對手基帶芯片制造商高通達(dá)成和解并同意購買其芯片之后,英特爾便關(guān)閉了其智能手機(jī)基帶部門。司睿博在宣講結(jié)束時說,自己“還沒有找到生財之道”。
司睿博說,存儲芯片業(yè)務(wù)采用的是最先進(jìn)的3D NAND技術(shù),該業(yè)務(wù)在2018年實現(xiàn)了盈利,但在今年會出現(xiàn)虧損。他指出:“我們正在認(rèn)真評估NAND的持續(xù)進(jìn)展”,同時還表示,公司今年不會投入更多的錢來擴(kuò)大其存儲芯片產(chǎn)能。
做出這類艱難的決策可能會讓華爾街感到高興,在司睿博表示可能會砍掉存儲業(yè)務(wù)之后,英特爾股價在周三實際上有短暫的回升。然而,司睿博在隨后的演講中提到了最令人失望的幾點內(nèi)容。
司睿博表示,在今后三年,英特爾的營收將呈現(xiàn)出單位數(shù)的年增速,而其毛利可能會下跌。每股收益的增速將與營收相當(dāng)。
此預(yù)測一出,英特爾股價應(yīng)聲下跌。
司睿博和其他英特爾高管還努力宣傳了公司即將推出的一些創(chuàng)新,但談到使用新制程的個人電腦和服務(wù)器芯片時卻依然援引了此前披露的路線圖。新芯片將在今年年底登陸消費設(shè)備,并在2020年上半年與云服務(wù)提供商見面。(財富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:馮豐 審校:夏林 |
Intel’s new CEO Bob Swan continued his campaign to reset expectations about the chipmaking giant, but with limited success.
Hosting its first investor day in more than two years, Intel invited Wall Street analysts and fund managers to its Santa Clara, Calif. headquarters for three hours of presentations and speeches. The aim was to convince investors that Intel has a sound long-term plan to compete with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and others that have started to steal away the chipmaker’s dominant position.
Swan spoke first, and by the time he was done, Intel’s shares had fallen 2.5% to $49.24. The stock is still up 6% for the year, but that lags the 15% gain in the S&P 500 Index, not to mention the 47% rise at AMD (amd, +1.65%) and 30% jump for Nvidia (nvda, +0.42%).
Intel has been struggling for the past few years, as it largely missed out on the smartphone revolution and has struggled to finalize a new generation of chip manufacturing technology. Swan’s predecessor, Brian Krzanich, was pushed out last year amid the sagging performance and a “consensual relationship” with another Intel employee. Then in April, Swan disclosed that Intel would miss its previous revenue forecast by $2.5 billion in 2019.
“I do want to acknowledge the present,” the soft-spoken CEO said in his opening presentation on Wednesday. “We let you down and we let ourselves down…we’re a team built on credibility and we know we have to earn and maintain your credibility.”
Swan, Intel’s former CFO who was named to the top job after a seven-month search, said he’s taking a hard look at some of Intel’s efforts started over the past few years to boost growth. Already, Intel has shut its smartphone modem program, the sole source of chips for Apple’s (aapl, +0.00%) iPhone line up in 2018. Swan said he’s also evaluating whether to keep funding a memory chip effort that may never be as profitable as Intel wants.
Intel ended its smartphone modem effort after Apple settled with rival modem chipmaker Qualcomm (qcom, -0.72%) and agreed to buy its chips. In the end, Swan said he “didn’t see a path to make money.”
The memory chip effort, which relies on a cutting-edge technology known as 3D NAND, will sink back into the red this year after attaining profitability in 2018, he said. “We’re really evaluating the continued progress in NAND,” he said, adding that the company won’t spend any more money to expand its memory chip making capacity this year.
Making such tough decisions may please Wall Street, and Intel’s stock actually crept up briefly on Wednesday after Swan said he may chop the memory business. But then came likely the most disappointing element in Swan’s talk.
Over the next three years, Intel will increase its revenue by a “l(fā)ow single digit” percentage points per year while its gross profit margins may decline, Swan said. earnings per share would grow at about the same rate as revenue.
Immediately after the forecast, Intel’s stock slipped.
Swan and other Intel (intc, -2.54%) executives also tried to promote some upcoming innovations, but repeated previously disclosed schedules for PC and server chips that will use a new manufacturing technology. The new chips will arrive in consumer devices by the end of the year and for servers and cloud providers in the first half of 2020. |