Intel Corporation (INTC) is a stock that looks cheap. But the one-year chart isn't so encouraging for investors. In August, I wrote a piece that was, at best, extremely hesitant on the short-term prospects for the equity. Long-term, I'm certainly more bullish; how can you not be on a business like Intel, right?

The shares closed today's regular session at $19.76, which represented a gain of about 1%. The 52-week low for the stock is $17.60, while the 52-week high is $24.37. I'd say that places the market more on the bearish side of the aisle. But the company just reported earnings for the third quarter. What do they tell us about the situation?

Texas Instruments (TXN), whose colleagues include Intel (INTC) and Qualcomm (QCOM), is one of those stocks I've been afraid to buy, but probably shouldn't be. When I discussed the chipmaker's fourth quarter, I was reluctant to issue a bullish call, even though I enjoyed the fundamental aspect to the story. Not long after that, the stock rose a few bucks.

I was looking for a margin of safety, but I guess it was already built into the shares. The one-year chart is looking mostly good. It's a little meandering, perhaps, but I guess that means you can take advantage of the dips.

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.

Texas Instruments (TXN), a chipmaker whose related companies include Intel (INTC) and Qualcomm (QCOM), reported results for the fourth quarter on Monday after the bell. Profit growth was incredible, but it's difficult to call the stock a buy at this time, at least based on price action.

Revenues increased a whopping 27%. Earnings came in at 52 cents per share. That was more than 100% better than the adjusted 21 cents per share earned in Q4 2008. Operational cash flow went down 10%, but overall, you've got to call this a much improved quarter (a note on cash flow: it pretty much covered capital expenditures, dividends, and share repurchases, which is good news).

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.

True entrepreneurs will go to any length to get their companies off the ground. And, they're known for accepting the consequences of the risks they take. Some businesses never make it to launch, never bring in a dime, never lead to that killer IPO. In even rarer cases, these adventures can put two people behind the defendants' table on charges of corporate espionage. Lan Lee, an American, and Yuefei Ge, a Chinese citizen, allegedly swiped computer chip blueprints and tried to gain Chinese government support for a startup using these illicit goods. Now, they could face up to 65 years on charges of corporate espionage.

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.

Late yesterday, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) reported a lower second-quarter profit, thanks to a large drop in sales amid struggles throughout the chip sector. That said, the company did vault higher after its announcement, thanks to its sales forecast.

The chipmaker reported second-quarter earnings of nine cents per share, down from 11 cents per share a year ago. Adjusted quarterly income checked in at 18 cents per share. Quarterly revenue slipped to $640.6 million, which was down from $842.6 million in the second quarter a year ago. Expectations called for earnings of 13 cents per share on revenue of $615 million.