The markets had a relatively flat day to start the week, but there were some big name stocks that traded up to new 52 week highs in today's session. The DOW was up 0.2%, NASDAQ was down 0.01%, while the S&P saw the most change, closing up 0.4%.

Here are a couple of the bigger names that traded up to new 52 week highs in today's trading.

• Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC): Chipmaker Intel Corp. traded up to a new 52 week high today of $20.65. It set its 52 week low of $12.05 back on 2/23/09. The stock is trading higher today ahead of the company's third quarter earnings numbers, which are due out tomorrow following the market close. Analysts are expecting the company to show earnings of 27 cents per share. The company reported a loss of 7 cents per share for its second quarter. The stock closed the day up 1.1% at $20.40, up $0.23 on the day.

Poor Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD). The company's stock has been a terrible performer as of late, and the chip maker delivered another batch of bad news to shareholders Monday. According to the following article, AMD intends on eliminating 10% of its work force -- this translates to about 1,800 positions.

Also, business is pretty weak; AMD announced that its sales for the recent quarter would come in around 15% lighter than what was reported last year at this time. Adding insult to injury, the top line missed the expectations of analysts; Wall Street was looking for approximately $1.6 billion in net sales -- AMD thinks it will deliver $1.5 billion.

Make no mistake, AMD is suffering. As the article makes clear, the chip maker is having a hard time generating profits. AMD will be trying its best, I'm sure, to restructure its operations so that it will once again be a force to be reckoned with in the near future. But how near is near?

Well I was right on this one -- I was expecting Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) to make $0.22 a share and -- after a reversal of previously accrued taxes which boosted earnings by 5 cents a share -- Intel met analysts' expectations.

While Brian White is providing the details of the conference call, here are some of the highlights. Intel first-quarter profit rose 19% and revenue slid at a slower pace than last year. Specifically, Intel's net income increased to $1.61 billion, or 27 cents a share, from $1.36 billion, or 23 cents, a year earlier. Revenue slipped 1% to $8.85 billion, following a 9% drop last year.

Intel beat its gross margin forecast -- it made 50.1% and forecast 49%. And it predicts a 48% margin in the future -- an uncomfortable drop.

But investors seem to like the results. Shares were up 1.4% during trading today and rose another 2% after-hours.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Intel.