# Intel's weak Q4 guide

Business · Heat 10.0 / 10 · 5 shows · 1h 0m airtime

Intel reported third-quarter 2026 results on October 29, beating estimates, but guided fourth-quarter revenue to $15 to 16 billion against roughly $17 billion expected and EPS of 25 cents against 43 cents. CFO David Zinsner blamed high memory prices for a demand falloff from late August, with the PC slowdown seen lasting at least through the first half of next year and memory prices elevated into 2028. Gross margins are guided to 38 percent, about 400 basis points below the street, after falling more than 600 basis points quarter over quarter on new-node loading and a weaker PC mix. Shares fell about 28-29 percent, the biggest one-day drop since 1982, and executives said the company probably won't generate free cash…

Page: https://boilpoints.com/point/intels_weak_q4_guide_2224901692

## Segments

- [Closing Bell](https://boilpoints.com/u/closingbell), 2026-10-29, 2:51 to 4:54: **Reports the beat and soft Q4 guide**. Reports Intel's Q3 beat and the soft fourth-quarter guide, with CFO David Zinsner attributing the demand falloff to high memory prices squeezing PC budgets. Also covers foundry customer lock-ins, packaging progress and the $23 billion equity sale. New angle: Intel guided Q4 to $15-16 billion and 25 cents EPS, and Zinsner blamed memory prices for a demand falloff from late August.
- [Closing Bell](https://boilpoints.com/u/closingbell), 2026-10-29, 6:51 to 9:02: **Follows the guide with the CFO's outlook**. Follows the Intel guide with the CFO's outlook: the PC slowdown runs at least through the first half of next year, memory prices stay elevated into next year, and 2028 is the open question. Notes Micron rose after hours on those comments. New angle: Intel sees the PC slowdown lasting at least through the first half of next year, with memory prices elevated into 2028.
- [Closing Bell](https://boilpoints.com/u/closingbell), 2026-10-29, 9:02 to 16:04: **Sizes the drop and the data center offset**. Benchmark's Cody Acree sizes the after-hours drop at about 22 percent and puts numbers on the offset: data center beat by about $500 million, foundry by about $200 million, while PC market estimates are now down 20 to 25 percent for the year. He stays long the AI CPU and foundry thesis. New angle: PC market estimates are now down 20 to 25 percent for this year.
- [Closing Bell](https://boilpoints.com/u/closingbell), 2026-10-29, 25:32 to 28:42: **Reframes Intel's PC story as foundry cover**. Brings on a foundry analyst who takes Intel's memory-price explanation for the PC demand falloff and reframes it: he says the PC story may be cover for Intel's foundry problems, and that he sees no customer working with Intel for wafer loading one or two years out. New angle: Hosseini sees no customer working with Intel for wafer loading one or two years from now.
- [Closing Bell](https://boilpoints.com/u/closingbell), 2026-10-29, 33:27 to 39:49: **Puts numbers on Intel's PC hole**. Bernstein's Stacey Rasgon works through the guide and puts numbers on the PC hole: Q3 shipments down more than 20% year over year and double digits sequentially, the worst sequential quarter in about 20 years, with client revenue implied down at least 20% in Q4. She also flags gross margin guidance 400 basis points below the street. New angle: Intel guided gross margins to 38%, about 400 basis points below the street, and Q3 PC shipments fell more than 20% year over year.
- [Bloomberg Tech](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergtech), 2026-10-29, 0:21 to 2:54: **Reports Intel's 600 basis point margin drop**. Sobhani walks through the print: the fourth-quarter guide missed badly, data center supply cannot offset PC weakness, and gross margin fell more than 600 basis points quarter over quarter on new-node loading and a weaker PC mix. New angle: Intel's gross margin fell more than 600 basis points quarter over quarter, driven by new-node loading and a weaker PC mix.
- [Bloomberg Tech](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergtech), 2026-10-29, 2:54 to 5:12: **Questions Intel's margin and foundry trajectory**. Sobhani walks through the counterfactual on Intel's quarter: more data center supply would have softened the top line but not the margin hit. Frames the analyst-call questions around gross margin trajectory and foundry progress, staying inside the guidance-miss story.
- [Bloomberg Surveillance](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergsurveillance), 2026-10-29, 0:46 to 2:54: **Breaks down the margin miss and node mix**. Bloomberg Intelligence's Sobhani works through the print: data center demand is strong but supply-starved, and the gross margin miss of more than 600 basis points quarter over quarter comes from loading new, costlier nodes while the higher-margin PC business sags. A supply-and-mix read on the guide. New angle: Intel's gross margin fell more than 600 basis points quarter over quarter, and data center chips carry lower margins than PCs.
- [Bloomberg Surveillance](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergsurveillance), 2026-10-29, 2:54 to 4:33: **Poses a counterfactual on the Intel guide**. Poses a counterfactual on the Intel guide: had data center supply been there, the top-line hit would have been smaller but gross margin pressure would remain. Frames investor patience against semiconductor peers beating by billions and guiding years out.
- [Bloomberg Surveillance](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergsurveillance), 2026-10-29, 4:31 to 5:47: **Previews Intel's analyst call questions**. Sobhani names the two questions he wants on Intel's analyst call - when gross margin finds a floor and when foundry packaging turns into material revenue - and flags AMD as next week's read-through. Analysis and preview, no new development.
- [Bloomberg Tech](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergtech), 2026-10-30, 0:50 to 3:49: **Breaks down Intel's guide-down and supply squeeze**. Opens the episode on Intel's earnings fallout: the roughly 28-29% drop, the fourth-quarter guide that missed by $2-3 billion, and CEO Lip-Bu Tan's explanation that memory going to AI data centers is starving PCs while an explosion in Israel and substrate shortages cap CPU supply. New angle: Intel guides fourth-quarter revenue $2-3 billion below estimates; shares fall about 28-29%, the biggest one-day drop since 1982.
- [Bloomberg Tech](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergtech), 2026-10-30, 3:49 to 9:38: **Argues the memory squeeze hits AMD too**. Portfolio manager Joanne Feeney walks through the Intel guide-down and the PC slump, arguing the memory squeeze hits AMD too and that AMD's server chips are the better opportunity. Reaction and analysis, staying inside the earnings story already on the record.
- [Bloomberg Tech](https://boilpoints.com/u/bloombergtech), 2026-10-30, 22:52 to 24:03: **Recaps the chip selloff and Intel's plunge**. Market wrap on the selloff: the Nasdaq 100 down almost 3%, the SOX almost 7% and on its longest weekly losing streak since April 2025, with Intel's near-30% drop as the anchor. It restates the Intel move already on the record before turning to AWS.
- [TBPN](https://boilpoints.com/u/tbpn), 2026-10-30, 15:03 to 17:21: **Covers Intel's 30% post-earnings drop**. Covers Intel's 30% single-day drop after its earnings call, with the stock down 50% from its $140 peak and back near its pre-rally level. Leans on Nick Dorsey's and Jim Cramer's reactions to the call. New angle: Intel fell about 30% in a day, down 50% from its $140 peak to $63 a share.
- [The Information's TITV](https://boilpoints.com/u/theinformationstitv), 2026-10-30, 0:57 to 11:49: **Breaks down the guide and foundry losses**. Moorhead walks through Intel's quarter: the 25% opening drop, the substrate and memory shortages, the weak Windows PC market, the Fab 28 accident and the foundry losses behind the no-free-cash-flow-in-2027 guidance. He expects data center to stay strong and TSMC to favor AMD. New angle: Intel executives said the company probably won't generate free cash flow in 2027; foundry loses $0.28 per revenue dollar.
- [Closing Bell](https://boilpoints.com/u/closingbell), 2026-10-30, 1:11 to 5:15: **Recaps Intel's guide and the SOX breakdown**. Recaps the October 30 close, with Intel's guidance-driven drop crushing chips: the SOX lost 8% and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time in a year and a half, while staples and health care rotated higher. Santoli argues earnings growth has stopped lifting stocks. New angle: The SOX fell 8% and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time in a year and a half.
- [TBPN](https://boilpoints.com/u/tbpn), 2026-10-30, 12:26 to 14:01: **Rounds up Dorsey and Cramer panning the call**. Picks up Intel's post-earnings collapse: down about 30% on the day, 50% off its $140 peak, still a $336 billion company. Rounds up Nick Dorsey and Jim Cramer panning Lip-Bu Tan's call and notes the stock remains above its March level. New angle: Intel fell about 30% in a day and roughly 50% from its $140 peak after the earnings call.