Intel's Q3 profit exceeds expectations

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Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) reported Q3 earnings after the bell, and investors like what they see.

Here are the key things to know from earnings.

The Good:

Adjusted EPS of $.23 beat Wall Street expectations of $.01.
Revenue of $13.7 billion also beat expectations of $13.4 billion
Intel’s Client Computing and Data Center and AI groups both soundly exceeded expectations.
Intel’s CFO said “Current demand is outpacing supply, a trend we expect will persist into 2026.”

The Bad:

Guidance for next quarter wasn’t great. Revenue guidance of $12.8 billion to $13.8 billion is below Wall Street’s current expectations of $13.37 billion at the midpoint. EPS guidance of $.08 matches Wall Street’s expectations.
The company’s Foundry unit – which is critical for Intel’s rebound – missed estimates. Intel Foundry Revenue reported $4.2 billion in revenue, which is below the $4.5 billion in sales Wall Street expected.

Yet, as we noted earlier, shares of Intel are up 7.7% as of 4:40 p.m. ET, so investors clearly are more focused on the positives than the negatives from tonight’s earnings report.

All The Main Figures from Intel’s Q3 Earnings Report

Adj. EPS: $0.23 [✅]; UP +150% YoY
Revenue: $13.7B (Est. $13.7B) [✅]; UP +3% YoY
Adj. Gross Margin: 40.0% [✅]; UP +220 bps YoY
Net Income: $4.1B [✅]; UP +124% YoY
Cash from Operations: $2.5B

Q4’25 Outlook:

Revenue: $12.8-13.8B [➖]
- Intel’s guidance excludes Altera, following the sale of a majority ownership interest completed in Q3 2025.
- Expecting fourth-quarter EPS attributable to Intel of $(0.14) and non-GAAP EPS attributable to Intel of $0.08.

Q3 Segment Performance:

Client Computing Group (CCG) Revenue: $8.5B [✅]; UP +5% YoY
Data Center and AI (DCAI) Revenue: $4.1B [⚠️]; DOWN -1% YoY
Intel Foundry Revenue: $4.2B [⚠️]; DOWN -2% YoY
All Other Revenue: $1.0B [✅]; UP +3% YoY

Other Key Q3 Metrics:

Adj. Operating Income: $1.5B [✅]; UP +164% YoY
Adj. Operating Expenses: $3.9B [✅]; DOWN -17% YoY
R&D Expenses: $4.4B [✅]; DOWN -20% YoY
Effective Tax Rate: 6.6% (vs. -87.0% YoY)
Free Cash Flow: $896M

CEO Commentary:

Lip-Bu Tan: “Our Q3 results reflect improved execution and steady progress against our strategic priorities. AI is accelerating demand for compute and creating attractive opportunities across our portfolio, including our core x86 platforms, new efforts in purpose-built ASICs and accelerators, and foundry services. Intel’s industry-leading CPUs and ecosystem, along with our unique U.S.-based leading-edge logic manufacturing and R&D, position us well to capitalize on these trends over time.”

CFO Commentary:

David Zinsner: “We took meaningful steps this quarter to strengthen our balance sheet, including accelerated funding from the U.S. Government and investments by NVIDIA and SoftBank Group that increase our operational flexibility and demonstrate the critical role we play in the ecosystem. Our stronger than expected Q3 results mark our fourth consecutive quarter of improved execution and reflect the underlying strength of our core markets. Current demand is outpacing supply, a trend we expect will persist into 2026.”

What’s Next

Intel hosts its conference call at 5:00 p.m. ET. You can register to listen to the call here. We expect Wall Street to focus in on progress in Intel’s foundry business and what commentary about demand outpacing supply means for 2026 results.