Intel slips after CEO's tepid appraisal

Reuters

Sept. 27, 2002 4:00 a.m. PT

Shares of Intel were down more than 5 percent after its chief executive declined to predict when a slump in corporate technology spending would end. Shares of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker closed down 95 cents, or 5.24 percent, to $17.18 on the Nasdaq after hitting a session low of $17.15. The company's stock has lost more than half its value since the beginning of the year, when optimism for a recovery in technology spending was higher. But the recovery has been elusive, stumping Wall Street analysts, economists and executives alike.

"We see modest growth in the third quarter over the second quarter," Intel Chief Executive Craig Barrett told a news conference in Malaysia, where he was attending a technology conference. "But we haven't seen much improvement in the computing environment, because companies are not investing," he added. "When it turns around will be when companies start reinvesting; I'm not forecasting when that will happen." Semiconductor stocks overall were weaker Tuesday, with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index off 5.9 percent. Shares of Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices closed down 63 cents, or 6.48 percent, to $9.09 on the New York Stock Exchange.