Ahead of the Bell: Intel to post 3Q results

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company will kick off the technology sector's earnings season amid deepening worries that economic troubles have already started to slow PC sales. Investors are worried that trend will worsen into 2009, lopping off a major source of business for the world's largest maker of PC microprocessors, the electronic brains of those computers.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Intel to post 34 cents per share in profit on $10.3 billion in revenue for the July-September period. While many analysts believe Intel will hit those targets, they will be closely monitoring Intel's predictions for the fourth quarter and its body language about what lies beyond that.

Right now, Wall Street expects Intel's sales to tick up 1 percent to $10.8 billion in the October-December quarter. Profits are expected to rise to 39 cents per share.

Analyst Tristan Gerra with Robert W. Baird & Co. wrote in a note to clients that the firm maintains its "neutral" rating on Intel's shares.

He cited an expected slowdown in PC sales in 2009 and a shift toward cheaper and lower profit-margin products--especially the high-end computer server chips, whose sales could take a hit because of slowing spending from corporations.

The combination of those factors "reduces visibility for 2009 numbers and lead us to remain on the sidelines," Gerra wrote.

Intel's results can help shape investors' views of many other tech stocks because they assist in gauging the overall health of PC sales and demand for the chips and other parts that are built into them.

Intel shares gained $1.80, 11.9 percent, to close at $16.99 Monday in a historic market rally.