Intel's Board Stares Down Critics, Declares Quarterly Dividend Payout

While the financial analysts and pundits were giving it a thumbs down, Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) showed investors that it remained a stalwart believer in its own value when it issued a statement on Thursday morning that affirmed the company’s commitment to pay out a dividend.

Specifically, the company’s Board of Directors declared a 12.75 cents per share quarterly dividend on the company's common stock, the statement said.

On Tuesday, Intel announced that its fourth-quarter revenue reached the record level of $10.7 billion and that its operating income for 2007 grew 45 percent.

“2007 was a breakthrough year for innovation at Intel. We realized the benefits of our investments in new products and our efforts to drive efficiencies,” said CEO/President Paul Otellini in Tuesday’s statement.

“We enter 2008 with the best combination of products, silicon technology and manufacturing leadership in our history,” he added.

Nevertheless, TheStreet.com’s famed stock picker Jim Cramer said Wednesday on its website’s video words to the effect that he would sell Intel stocks and buy Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) instead of the former (watch the video of Cramer’s take on Intel).

In early afternoon trading on Thursday, the markets seemed to be heeding Cramer’s sell advice while ignoring Intel’s upbeat statements, since the share price was down to $19.52 from the previous closing price of $19.88.

NewsVisual decided to create an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate the business connections of Intel’s Board of Directors as a method for assessing their knowledge of business and for determining the likelihood that the company is on the right course for future earnings growth.

The Knowledge Map shows that eight of Intel’s Directors are currently serving on the boards of other companies, which suggests that they have the collective experience necessary to make sound earnings forecasts.

In fact, the following Intel Directors serve on at least three other corporate boards:

Director Charlene Barshefsky, a former Ambassador who was the United States Trade Representative from 1997 to 2001, is also a Director to the American Express Co, The Estee Lauder Companies Inc, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc; Director John L Thorton is also a Director for the Ford Motor Co, News Corp, and Pacific Century Group; and Director D James Guzy, aside from being the Chairman of SRC Computers Inc, is also a Director for AllianceBernstein Holding LP, The Davis Funds, and PLX Technology Inc.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

Comments

[Bob TheTrader]

F*** the analysts and pundits, they are so stupid they couldn't see a good company if it bit them in the ass. It is absolutely ridiculous that Intel dropped 13% in 1 day on meeting expectations and Merrill Lynch only dropped 12% with very bad news. Tell me again, how do you dumb ass analysts and pundits call yourselves experts when all you do is run around like chicken little with no cause. The analysis and ratings of stocks and companies are done on sound principles but not one has bothered to come up with a way to incorporate analysts and pundits stupidity into the equation. If we can come out with that formula, they we will be able to really predict the market because ultimately it is the emotions (unjustified in Intel's case), not sound principles, that drove the stock down this week.

[kurt walter]

People still listen to Cramer's act? He has only given his opinion on about 5,000 stocks in the past 3 years. Talk about overkill. Why wouldn't Intel pay the dividend? Did they make money last quarter? I want my stocks to pay dividends. I don't trust managements. They can easily screw things up. I want a return on my investment. Forget stock buy backs and reinvesting all the money back into the company. I want some return on a quarterly basis. That shows me the company is making money.

[Bob TheTrader]

I consider myself a noob in understanding market dynamics, so someone more knowledgeable please enlighten me. This has bothered me for years but I come to realize that the movement of a stock or index up or down is ultimately determined by the market expectations, not fundamentals, but simply expectations. For example, when the market expects a 1/2 point cut by Feds and instead gets 1/4 point cut, the market goes down. So how does the market consensus of a 1/2 point cut come to in the first place? Is there collusion among the analysts and pundits that we aren't aware of? Because I see many analysts disagree with each other all the time, how does a market consensus form in the first place? Like today, Bush announces a stimulus plan and the market goes down because the market expected more. Who/what the hell is this market consensus?

[Smart1]

Intel does pay dividends. It is currently yielding almost 3%.