‘We are committed to the dividend’

Intel (INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger pushed back on the notion that his company’s turnaround struggles would spell the end of its coveted dividend payout.

“We are committed to the dividend and to a very healthy and competitive dividend,” Gelsinger said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “We’re also making big long-term strategic investments, so we’re putting all of that together and looking very carefully at the capital allocation priorities for the company overall, even as we remain committed to rewarding our shareholders with the dividend.”

The company paid out $6 billion in dividends in 2022. But with cash flow dropping by about $14 billion year over year and results under pressure in the fourth quarter, some on Wall Street questioned whether it was time for Intel to cut the dividend.

Intel’s fourth-quarter sales plunged 32% from the prior year. Sales in the key client computing and data center segments dropped 36% and 33%, respectively.

Here is how the company performed in Q4 compared to Wall Street estimates:

• Revenue: $14 billion vs. $14.4 billion estimate

• Adjusted EPS: $0.10 vs. $0.19

• Client Computing: $6.6 billion vs. $7.4 billion

• Datacenter and AI: $4.3 billion vs. $4 billion

Intel stock was off more than 6% during Friday’s session as its guidance for the first quarter wasn’t much better than its finish to 2022.

The company said it expects revenue of between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion, though the Street was looking for $14 billion. Intel also expects gross margins to come in at 39%, whereas analysts anticipated margins to top 45.5%.

Intel declined to provide full-year guidance, citing volatile global economic conditions.

“While the company is committed to a cost reduction plan of $8.0-$10.0 billion by 2025, it doesn’t help the core manufacturing problem,” Citi analyst Chris Danely wrote in a client note. “And we believe Intel’s ongoing investments in growth markets may not perform as expected. We maintain our Neutral rating on Intel driven by downside to estimates.”

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Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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