INTC set for double digit growth

SANTA CLARA (MarketWatch) -- Intel Corp. Chief Executive Paul Otellini offered an upbeat view of the chip giant's future to a crowd of Wall Street analysts on Tuesday, saying the company is poised for major growth in earnings and sales over the next few years.

Otellini said Intel /quotes/comstock/15*!intc/quotes/nls/intc (INTC 22.32, +0.04, +0.18%) sees its revenue and earnings growth rates improving from single digits per year to low double digits in the next few years on average, amid continued growth in its core personal computer market and in other arenas, such as smart phones and smart TVs.
"We're on top of a growth engine and we intend to deliver," Otellini said during the company's analyst day at the chip giant's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.
The company did not formally raise its guidance for the current quarter. Shares of Intel were last trading up 0.6% at $22.69.

Otellini said PCs continues to be "a growth industry," especially with the rapid expansion of computing and the Internet in emerging markets, led by China, India and Brazil.

The laptop market is bound to continue its growth, he said. "We see nothing on the horizon that is going to change that," Otellini said.
Meanwhile, the netbook market, a space Intel helped to pioneer with its Atom chip, remains a key new arena for the company.
Otellini also noted the rise of the tablet PC arena, underscored by the success of Apple Inc.'s /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 255.20, -1.32, -0.52%) iPad. But he downplayed speculation that tablets may hurt other markets, particularly notebooks and netbooks.

"I don't think they will take away market share away from other devices," he said, adding that tablets and netbooks offer additional usage models to consumers, but will not likely replace such devices as notebooks. Intel's chips are not currently in the iPad.

Otellini said the company is also eyeing opportunities in the consumer electronics market, citing new products that are geared to more sophisticated televisions, dubbed smart TVs. "TVs starting this year will get smart," he said.

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5/11/2010 4:07 PM