Chipmaker AMD Reports Results That Surpass Analysts’ Expectations

AMD’s second-quarter results surpassed the estimates of analysts. The company, however, issued weak guidance for the next quarter.

AMD reported adjusted earnings of $1.05 per share compared to analysts’ estimate of $1.03, according to Refinitiv. Revenue for the quarter came in at $6.55 billion, beating the estimate of $6.53 that analysts expected, according to Refinitiv.

For the ongoing third quarter, AMD expects revenue of $6.7 billion, while analysts expect $6.83 billion. The company, however, has a significant market opportunity over its rival Intel. AMD chips have shown to be better than Intel’s in terms of performance. Investors are looking to see if the company will have the capacity to take market share from its rival.  

All of AMD’s major segments experienced quarterly growth. Total revenue was up 70 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. The company said that its data center sales for the second quarter, which include chips for cloud computing and large enterprise customers, grew 83 percent year-over-year to $1.5 billion in the second quarter. Sales drove the strong sales for server processors, and the company says it doesn’t expect the demand for these chips to decline.

Its client segment revenue went up 25 percent to $2.2 billion during the second quarter. This segment houses the company’s PC and laptop sales. The segment’s growth came despite reasons to believe that computer sales have been declining after pandemic highs. Mobile processor sales drove the growth for this sector.

AMD’s CEO Lisa Su, however, admitted that the company saw declines in the current quarter for the PC business. “We have taken a more conservative outlook on the PC business, so a quarter ago we would have thought that the PC business would be down let’s call it high single digits. Our current view of the PC business is that it will be down mid-teens,” she said.

On a call with analysts, the CEO noted that the company is taking market share in the server and PC market. “We’re pleased that we’re gaining share,” she said.

AMD’s gaming segment went up 32 percent year-over-year to $1.7 billion. Graphic processors for gaming PCs declined in the second quarter. Its embedded segment which envelopes chips for networking cars reported revenue of $1.3 billion and was boosted by the company’s acquisition of Xiinx which was completed in the first quarter.

During the second quarter, the company bought back $920 million of its stock. AMD stock has declined 31 percent since this year and has been affected by investors reducing their investments as a result of inflation and fears that a recession may hit soon.