Earlier this week, Intel (INTC) delivered an impressive quarter; I came away with positive thoughts about the chip maker's long-term prospects. Now, we have Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and its own three-month release to ponder. How was the price action after Q1 results were posted on Thursday following the conclusion of the normal session?

Lousy, at least at the time I was writing this. Shares of AMD tumbled 5% in extended trading. Quite disappointing, when you think about it. After all, the stock had hit a new 52-week high during intraday activities before the report. And the volume? You couldn't ask for a better number of shares in play. There was great conviction behind the buying activity.

That was certainly a large gain in profit. Now, let's check out what the analysts were thinking. According to Reuters, Wall Street was projecting only 18 cents per share. Management scores again.

Chip-maker Intel (INTC), whose colleagues include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Texas Instruments (TXN), issued fourth-quarter data yesterday after the bell. Shareholders must have loved the growth rates. Revenues increased 28% on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted net income on a dollar basis grew well over 200%. Adjusted per-share profit came in at 55 cents versus 15 cents in the comparable period.

As for expectations, Earnings.com says that the market was looking for 30 cents per share. Some coverage compared the 30-cent projection to the reported GAAP income number of 40 cents per share, instead of the non-GAAP number I mentioned above, which would make the earnings beat not as impressive. I usually deal with non-GAAP figures, but either way, Intel has gone above estimates in significant fashion.

Intel (INTC), the famous chip maker whose major competitors include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Microsoft (MSFT) and Texas Instruments (TXN), started the new year off on a great footing. According to Eric Buscemi's roundup Monday, the company received an upgrade from Baird which gave it a price target of $26. Intel closed on Monday at $20.88.

This should end up being a good call. When I covered Intel's third quarter earnings back in October, I noted the improvement in the fundamentals. I also mentioned the nice price action at the time, and suggested investors consider selling into the strength. The stock did retreat after that, but for those holding for the long term, it didn't much matter. The shares eventually rebounded and are currently not too far from their 52-week high that was made in reaction to the quarterly report.

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You've heard of the Monday blues, right? Monday is a depressing day, while Friday is supposed to be the best day of the week. Unfortunately, that's not the case with chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD). The stock closed down over 7% on extremely high volume.

According to Reuters coverage, AMD, which issued results yesterday after the bell, beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. In fact, the bottom line was particularly impressive. AMD lost 18 cents per share. The belief was that the company would lose as much as 42 cents per share.

The chip sector is pretty hot. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) reported a respectable quarter this week, and the stock is near a 52-week high. Also close to their highs of the year are Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD).

Well, you can add Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) to the list. The company, an expert on programmable logic, reported an earnings-beating quarter yesterday after the bell, according to Reuters. Xilinx made 23 cents per share in Q2, a penny ahead of analyst expectations. Revenue likewise was slightly ahead of the projections.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is getting ready to release third-quarter numbers. They will be divulged on Tuesday, October 13, after the bell. What should investors expect?

Maybe some good stuff. At least, you might get that idea by looking at this corporate press release from the latter part of August. The document has the kind of title that shareholders love. The kind that talks about raised guidance for both revenue and gross margin. As we all know, Intel really watches the gross margin, so whenever there is good news on that front, it most certainly is a welcome sight.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) had Q2 revenues of $8 billion, up 12% from Q1 and beating analyst expectations of $7.23 billion soundly. This was the best quarter-over-quarter growth rate for the world's largest chip manufacturer in more than 20 years -- and a good sign for the technology sector as a whole.

The company's profit of 18 cents a share was more than double the consensus of 8 cents, and the good news sent Intel's stock up 7% in after-hours trading.

This report didn't include a $1.45 billion fine that the European Commission imposed on the company back in May. This would have pushed Intel to a loss of $398 million (7 cents a share). But Intel is appealing the decision, which involved accusations of an abuse of market position. The company puts chips into 80% of computers.

As expected, chip maker National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM), whose colleagues include Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), lost money during its fourth quarter.

However, the loss wasn't as bad as feared. According to Trey Thoelcke's earnings preview, National Semiconductor could have lost up to 42 cents per share. Thankfully, according to the company's press release posted on Thursday after the bell, the business only lost 28 cents per share.

How thankful should we be? I must point out that the company earned 34 cents per share in last year's Q4 period. Also, sales dropped 39% during the past three months. Not only that, but cash from operations from the full fiscal year was down, as was the gross margin on a year-over-year basis (the gross margin increased, however, on a sequential basis compared to the third quarter, so that was a bright spot).

Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), a tech entity involved in programmable logic and a colleague of companies like Actel (NASDAQ: ACTL) and Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR), issued a business update on Tuesday. Believe it or not, it contained some good news. How about that for a change? I'm sure shareholders were pleased.

According to this news item, Xilinx believes that its revenue picture should be better than previously thought. Sales should drop by somewhere between 13% and 18% for the March quarter on a sequential basis. Management had originally believed that they'd have to report a sequential revenue drop between 15% and 25%. So, yes, there will still be a decline, but hey, if it's less than expected, you gotta take that. It's too bad, though, that the gross margin range wasn't raised. It should still fall between 61% and 63%. If management had raised that as well, then I bet the stock would have closed even higher on the news. It rose almost 4% on better-than-average volume yesterday.

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), the arch competitor of fellow chip maker Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), continues to be nothing more than a short-sale candidate. Its Q4 was horrible. Net sales nosedived 33% on a year-over-year basis, coming in at roughly $1.2 billion. On a GAAP basis, the net loss from continuing operations was $2.32 per diluted share versus $2.24 per diluted share in Q4 2007. According to this source, on an adjusted basis (which excludes write-downs related to the ATI transaction), the loss was $0.69 per share, and that missed Wall Street's expectations by a wide amount. The call was for a loss of $0.54 per share.

AMD is in a terrible state. Sure, it's not necessarily all management's fault. What can they do about the sinking economy? Not much. Demand is down and everyone is going to have to live with it. The press release talks about lack of visibility and concentration on restructuring. That translates to "we're doing everything we can just to make it through the tough times." Gross margins, both on a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis, have been challenged. Considering the bad news recently reported by both Intel and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), it's not a stretch to say that shares of AMD are heading lower.

Although I alluded to shorting AMD at the top of this piece, I should point out that shorting is a risky proposition and not for everyone. My main point in saying this is that I believe the situation is so dark right now in this sector of tech that 52-week lows may certainly be retested. And then there is the price war between AMD and Intel that this article mentions. That's an important issue to consider when thinking about both of those companies. The worst of times brings out the fiercest of competitive natures. Since AMD's brand is arguably not as strong as the Intel name, one can see why it would be best to avoid AMD's stock at all costs.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

The semiconductor equipment maker now expects first-quarter earnings in a range between 15 cents and 17 cents per share, down from its previous range of 21 to 24 cents. Quarterly revenues are expected to be at the low end of the previously communicated range of $315 million and $325 million. Analysts were waiting for Novellus Systems show quarterly earnings of 23 cents a share on sales of $319.4 million, according to Reuters Estimates.