Intel shares surged as much as 9.5 per cent today after the company narrowly trimmed its third-quarter revenue forecast, assuaging investor worries that demand in the personal computer industry could have been far worse.
The semiconductor manufacturer's shares rose as high as $16.55 and were up $1.24, or 8.2 per cent, at $16.35 in late morning Nasdaq trading.
The stock is down almost 50 per cent this year, its performance trailing the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index by about 6 per cent.
Intel yesterday tightened its revenue forecast for the third quarter, pushing it slightly below the midpoint of the $6.3 billion to $6.9 billion range it gave in July. The new forecasted revenue range is $6.3 billion to $6.7 billion.
Intel, whose Pentium 4 and Celeron microprocessors are the brains of most PCs, forecast sales of slightly less than $6.6 billion in the third quarter. Analysts and investors had worried that the company would lower its guidance to the low end of its previous range of $6.3 billion to $6.9 billion on weak demand.