Intel Beats Q1 Expectation on Sales, Profit

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company also posted revenue of $9.4 billion, besting the Street's expectation of $9.31 billion. That compared with revenue for the year-ago quarter of $8 billion, when Intel also reported a profit of 26 cents per share.

Intel CEO Craig Barrett credited much of the upbeat performance to the company's mobile offerings, which includes a Centrino platform that was updated early in the first quarter with technology code-named Sonoma. It was also the first quarter following a broad restructuring ordered by the company to focus on several lines of business, including the channel, the digital home and digital health care.

Looking ahead, Intel reported that it expected sales for the second quarter to range between $8.6 billion and $9.2 billion; the average of Wall Street expectations was for Intel to report second-quarter earnings of $8.9 billion.

The company also said it expected its 2005 capital spending would be between $5.4 billion and $5.8 billion; earlier, it had expected such spending would range between $4.9 billion and $5.3 billion.