Earnings Preview for Intel

Hurt by a slowdown in consumer spending, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) is poised for a rebound in growth and possibly dealmaking.

Analysts expect the chipmaker to announce earnings on Tuesday of an average 27 cents per share and revenue of $9.02 billion for the third quarter. In the second quarter, Intel reported worse-than-expected returns, or a loss of 7 cents per share, compared to expected earnings of 8 cents per share.

Intel has several things working in its favor. The leading chipmaker closed an acquisition of software vendor Wind River Systems Inc., which will allow the company to expand its presence into the mobile hand-held device market -- a wise move given the growing popularity of smart-phones.

What's more, Intel is sitting on a $10.5 billion cache of liquid assets, according to a recent list published by EETimes, poising the company to participate in a resurgence of M&A activity in the tech sector.

Meanwhile, Intel's existing business lines are expected to rebound next year. Analysts at Oppenheimer & Co. (NYSE:OPY) on Oct. 2 upgraded Intel's stock to outperform based on the assumption consumers will likely be replacing their laptop and desktop computers in 2010. This so-called "enterprise" growth has been a megadriver of revenue for Intel in the past.

Oppenheimer also expects the company to increase its dual-processor market share to 70% from 65% and improve its multiprocessor market share, which now hovers around 50%.
 
Tune into Intel's third-quarter earnings announcement on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. EST. Go here to listen to the Webcast. - Sara Behunek