AMD Reports 2012 Loss of $1.18 Billion, While IBM Profits

AMD has made a Q4 2012 loss of nearly half a billion dollars and a net loss of $1.18 billion during the entirety of 2012, while its competitor IBM reported a profitable quarter.

The former chipmaker reported a fourth quarter net loss of $473 million, or 63 cents a share, on revenue of $1.16 billion. The figure represents a decrease of 32 percent when compared to 2011's Q4. Non-GAAP earnings, meanwhile, were 14 cents a share. Wall Street expected AMD to report a fourth quarter loss of 20 cents a share on revenue of $1.15 billion.

For the year ending on December 29, the firm suffered a net loss of $1.18 billion on revenue of $5.42 billion. Full-year non-GAAP earnings were 14 cents per share. AMD's cash balance was $1.2 billion at the end of the fourth quarter.

AMD chief executive Rory Read said it continues to "evolve our operating model and diversify our product portfolio with the changing PC environment." He added: "Innovation is the core of our long-term growth. The investments we are making in technology today are focused on leveraging our distinctive IP to drive growth in ultra low power client devices, semi-custom SoCs and dense servers. We expect to deliver differentiated and groundbreaking APUs to our customers in 2013 and remain focused on transforming our operating model to the business realities of today."

While AMD failed to turn a profit, IBM reported a more positive financial quarter report. It announced 2012 fourth quarter earnings of $5.8 billion, or $5.13 a share, on revenue of $29.3 billion, which is a decrease of 1 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings stood at $5.39 a share.

Wall Street was expecting the company to report fourth quarter earnings of $5.25 a share on revenue of $29.08 billion. For the entirety of 2012, IBM reported earnings of $16.6 billion, or $14.37 a share, on revenue of $104.5 billion. The latter figure represents a decrease of 2 percent from 2011.

"Our new hardware product introductions really performed in the quarter," said IBM CFO Mark Loughridge during a conference call. "We had excellent acceptance of our new mainframe and our System Z revenue was up 56% year to year, so it's been a very successful launch. Not only in major markets, but in growth markets where we were up 65%. And we had significant growth in our mainframe specialty engines led by Linux. This is a good indicator, not only of new work loads moving onto the platform, but also the value of a vertically integrated system."

_{Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback}