Bank of America Merrill Lynch Preview on Intel

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has put out an earnings preview for Intel INTC. The report noted that investors remained unconvinced of Intel's efforts to penetrate tablet and smartphone markets. In the preview, Bank of America Merrill Lynch commented that, "We expect Intel to maintain its outlook for 10-13% PC unit growth vs. Street at 5-7% citing strength in emerging markets and corporate demand for PCs. After 6 consecutive quarters of increases we expect ~flattish ASPs from a richer mix of 32nm Sandybridge PCs offset by modest weakening in server ASPs from a shift towards cloud data servers." The report's analyst expected 2Q earnings to be slightly above expectation, and 3Q guidance in-line with consensus. Intel was given a price objective of $26.00 and a rating of Neutral. The stock closed at $22.85 yesterday and has since dropped 1.75% to $22.45.