Before the call: Intel's Q4 earnings release

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is scheduled to release fourth-quarter 2008 results today at 5:30 PM Eastern. To listen in to the webcast of the conference call, visit Intel's Q4 2008 Earnings Conference Call (registration required), or sign up for Intel's Investor Alerts to receive information via e-mail.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Intel to post a loss profit of $0.04 per share. That's down from a profit of $0.38 per share in the same period of the previous year. Sales for the quarter are expected to have fallen 23.3% from a year ago to $8.2 billion, which is in line with Intel's recently announced forecast. Intel has only missed earnings estimates in one of the past five quarters.

For the full year, analysts are looking for earnings of $0.92 per share on revenue of $37.3 billion, down from $1.18 per share and $38.3 billion in the previous year.

The consensus recommendation of analysts remains to buy INTC. The share price has fallen about 18% in the past three months, and it is about 44% lower than it was a year ago.

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