Intel (INTC) reported earnings earlier in the week. Connie Madon captured the bullet points of the latest quarter. Here's the question: should investors buy the chip stock?

The shares finished on Friday down slightly to $21.08. That's a few bucks lower than the 52-week high of $24.37. It's also a few bucks higher than the 52-week low of $17.60. The chart shows a stock that's been up and down over the past 12 months. Indeed, I've been bullish on Intel, and so far, I can't say that the company has risen like I thought it would. Traders, though, must be having a ball with the narrow range.

Intel posted another record quarter. The company reported a profit of $3.39 billion or 59 cents a share, up from $2.28 billion or 40 cents a share a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast 53 cents a share. Revenue jumped 8.4% to $11.46 billion. Revenue was flat in its PS division and up 15% in its data center group, which sells server computers. Gross margin, or profit after manufacturing cost, rose 67.5% from 64.7%. Thomson Reuters had forecast 66.7%.

Here are some other highlights from the report:

Chip maker giant Intel Corp. (INTC) will be reporting its fourth-quarter results following Thursday's market close, with analysts expecting to see another strong quarter from the California-based company.

Going into tomorrow's report, analysts are expecting to see Intel report earnings of 53 cents per share on revenues of $11.37 billion. During the same period last year the company had earnings of 40 cents per share.

Alcoa (AA), Intel (INTC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) will kick off a new earnings season this week when they report their results for the fourth quarter of 2010. Here's a quick look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect to see, followed by a glance at what's coming up on the economic calendar.

Alcoa

During its fourth quarter, Alcoa saw increased demand in emerging markets, sold surplus properties, and shared revenue targets with investors. Analysts forecast that earnings for the period will come to 19 cents per share, up from just a penny per share in the same quarter of last year. The New York-based aluminum producer also is expected to post revenue of $5.7 billion for the three months that ended in December, which is 4.5% more than a year earlier.

Is the selling over with Intel Corp. (INTC), first discussed here on March 30, 2009, at a price of $14.72? Perhaps.

Intel's shares retreated this spring and summer from $24 to $17.60 in bear-hug fashion, but appears to have found support at that $17.60, with the stock popping back over the $20 level this fall.

Meanwhile, Intel's fundamental picture continues to brighten. Look for an 8% to 10% revenue gain in 2011, after a likely 25% to 30% increase in 2010, as IT spending, the need to upgrade aging computers and new applications increase demand for Intel's next-generation microprocessors.

The earnings season kicked off last week with better-than-expected results from Alcoa (AA) and Yum! Brands (YUM), while Marriott (MAR) and Pepsico (PEP) met consensus EPS estimates. This week, bellwether companies Intel (INTC), General Electric (GE), Google (GOOG) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) are scheduled to report their third-quarter results, and analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are looking for earnings growth from all of them.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel announced the acquisition of McAfee and joint ventures with General Electric and Nokia (NOK) during its third quarter. Analysts forecast earnings for that period to come to 50 cents per share, which is up 34.0% from the same period of last year. The number one semiconductor maker's revenue for the three months ended in September is expected to total $11.0 billion, or 17.1% more than a year earlier. Looking ahead to the full year, the forecast thus far is for earnings of $1.94 per share (+44.8%) and $43.3 billion in revenue (+23.4%). The per-share earnings topped analysts' expectations in the past four quarters, by as much as a dime per share.

Intel Corporation today announced record first-quarter revenue of $9.7 billion, operating income of $2.1 billion, net income of $1.4 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of 25 cents.