Intel slashes dividend by over 65%, to 12.5 cents

Intel lower its quarterly dividend by greater than 65%, from 36.5 cents to 12.5 cents, the chipmaker introduced Wednesday, weeks after the corporate applied a wide-ranging set of value cuts.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger stated on a name with analysts that the corporate’s board was cautious in weighing the primary dividend lower since 2000. He added Intel meant to renew rising the dividend “over time.”

“The board and I continue to view the dividend as a critical component to the overall attractiveness of Intel,” he added.

Intel shares have been largely flat at Wednesday’s open after the news.

Gelsinger insisted on the decision that each he and the board remained dedicated to sustaining a aggressive yield. Intel’s dividend yield is now 1.9%, based mostly on Tuesday’s closing value, down considerably from its prior yield of 5.6%.

The dividend will likely be payable on June 1. “Prudent allocation of our owners’ capital is important to enable our IDM 2.0 strategy and sustain our momentum as we rebuild our execution engine,” Gelsinger stated in a press launch.

The firm additionally reaffirmed its just lately issued outlook for the primary quarter of 2023. Intel guided to a 15 cent non-GAAP loss per share however did not present full-year steerage, citing financial uncertainty.

Intel’s most up-to-date outcomes, a top- and bottom-line miss and a $664 million web loss for the fourth quarter of 2022, despatched its share value sharply down. “No words can portray or explain the historic collapse of Intel,” Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann wrote after the earnings report.

Few different large-cap corporations have made such sizable cuts in current reminiscence. Asset supervisor Blackstone took its dividend from $1.27 to $0.90 in Oct. 2022, and telecom big AT&T slashed its dividend almost in half in early 2022.

Other companies have lower dividends in current weeks. Rio Tinto, one of many largest mining issues on the earth, slashed its dividend Wednesday. BHP, one other mining agency, introduced a $0.90 dividend on Monday, down 40% year-over-year.

In the attire area, HanesBrands eradicated its dividend wholesale earlier this month, whereas VF Corp, which counts North Face and Jansport as subsidiary manufacturers, lower its dividend by over 40% earlier this month.

Intel’s inventory has fallen almost 60% from its 2021 excessive, a mirrored image of each a difficult PC market and of company-specific points, together with a surplus of chips and underutilized factories.

The firm stated it aimed to ship $3 billion in value financial savings this 12 months, partly by way of compensation cuts. Intel’s fourth-quarter loss was the chipmaker’s largest since 2017.

— CNBC’s Robert Hum, Michael Bloom, Jordan Novet and Kif Leswing contributed to this report.