Intel stock ticks lower as outlook barely clears Wall Street expectations following beat

Revenue tops estimates while declining for fourth straight quarter

Intel Corp. shares weakened in the extended session Thursday after the chip maker topped expectations, but its outlook barely surpassed the average forecast from Wall Street analysts.

Intel $(INTC)$ shares were last down 1% in the extended session, following an initial 3% uptick in after-hours trading. Shares closed down 0.5% in the regular session at $55.96.

Intel reported second-quarter net income of $5.06 billion, or $1.24 a share, compared with $5.11 billion, or $1.19 a share, in the year-ago period. After adjusting for acquisition-related expenses and other items, Intel reported earnings of $1.28 a share, compared with $1.23 a share from a year ago.

Revenue declined to $19.63 billion from $19.73 billion in the year-ago quarter, for a fourth straight quarter of year-over-year revenue declines, but topped its own and analysts' estimates. Excluding the company's memory business, revenue was $18.5 billion. Analysts had estimated adjusted earnings of $1.07 a share on revenue of $17.81 billion, while Intel had forecast adjusted earnings of $1.05 a share on revenue of $18.9 billion, or $17.8 billion when removing the memory business it was divesting.

"Our second-quarter results show that our momentum is building, our execution is improving, and customers continue to choose us for leadership products," said Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger in a statement.

For the third quarter, Intel forecast revenue of about $19.1 billion, or $18.2 billion when removing the memory business, and GAAP earnings of $1.08 a share and non-GAAP earnings of $1.10 a share. Analysts on average expected adjusted third-quarter earnings of $1.09 a share on revenue of $18.11 billion.

Intel's data-center group revenue declined 9% to $6.5 billion, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $5.84 billion.

Intel's largest segment -- client-computing, the traditional PC group -- rose 6% to $10.1 billion, with analysts expecting $10.03 billion.

Intel reported that nonvolatile memory-solutions revenue fell 34% to $1.1 billion, while Wall Street expected $690.8 million, and "Internet of Things," or IoT, revenue rose 47% to $984 million, compared with an expected $901.5 million. Mobileye revenue soared 124% to $327 million, but the Street had expected $361.4 million.

Over the past 12 months, Intel stock has fallen 8%. Over the same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- which counts Intel as a component -- has gained 29%, the S&P 500 index has climbed 33%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has advanced 37%, and the PHLX Semiconductor Index has surged 55%.

On Wednesday, Texas Instruments Inc. $(TXN)$kicked off earnings season for U.S. chip makers, amid a global semiconductor shortage.