Intel's Market Cap below Qualcomm

[sounds]

I'm not long or short on either of these stocks, see below for why I think this is a long con:

INTC	$21.25/share x 4,980,000,000 shares	= $105,740,000,000
QCOM	$64.68/share x 1,700,000,000 shares	= $110,220,000,000

Everyone who has ever gone up against chipzilla Intel has always lost. Market cap is not an indicator of success. But even the NYT is saying things like:

"The PC business as we’ve known it is evolving," said Paul S. Otellini, Intel’s chief executive, in a call to analysts.

"The form factors are going to blur here."

Instead of PCs, more people and businesses are buying smartphones and tablets.

Intel gets 64 percent of its revenues and some of its highest profit margins from chips for PCs.

It has scrambled to revive the market, while it aggressively tries to supply tablet and smartphone makers, so far with little success.

That last part is the con, I think: Intel isn't scrambling the big guns to get into tablets and smartphones. It's simple: small devices have small margins, so Intel is content to take a few lazy steps just to keep the engines warm until the timing is right.

The press is bear on INTC to pick up the stock right before they shift into high gear.

[blablahblah]

Low power consumption is where it's at. Qualcomm and various (other?) ARM licensees are profiting off a massive boom in Chinese smart-phones. But Intel seems to be missing out because even their Atom line uses too much power.

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Yes, I think Intel is missing the ARM race to the bottom.

I think they're doing it on purpose - to push down the share price then buy.

[ChanceCoats123]

I don't know about any long cons, but Intel is definitely not doing poorly, and it's not because of any handheld market crap. Intel released their 3D transistors early in 2012, and their power consumption has dropped dramatically. In fact, anyone who follows Moore's Law is aware that Intel's latest steps have outpaced Moore's Law by quite a bit. On top of that, they are getting primed to released IB-E, which will blow current tech out of the water in terms of raw computational power, and power efficiency...

Now that I mention it, maybe it is a long con.

[sounds]

@ChanceCoats123: handheld market crap

Exactly. Apple thinks their top-end laptop needs to be thinner than an envelope; that's not a wise decision and there's a lot more consumers who want a "real laptop."

Intel has to do a little work to not lose Apple as a customer. But they don't have to try too hard when their only competition is AMD.

Actually if they try too hard, the SEC will go all anti-trust on them. Better to rake in the $ billions and wait.