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Why Is Advanced Micro (AMD) Down 7.5% Since Last Earnings Report?

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A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) . Shares have lost about 7.5% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Advanced Micro due for a breakout? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.

AMD Q4 Earnings Beat, Data Center Growth Aids Top Line

Advanced Micro Devices reported fourth-quarter 2022 non-GAAP earnings of 69 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.55% but declining 25% year over year.

Revenues of $5.60 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.58% and increased 16% year over year.

Strong year-over-year growth benefited from higher Data Center and Embedded revenues as AMD continues to expand its presence across a broader set of markets and customers.

Top-Line Details

AMD announced new reporting segments — Data Center, Client, Gaming and Embedded — beginning second-quarter 2022.

Data Center comprises server CPUs, data center GPUs, Pensando and Xilinx data center products. Revenues jumped 42.3% year over year to $1.66 billion and accounted for 29.6% of total revenues. The segment benefited from strong sales of EPYC server processors.

In cloud, sales to North American hyperscalers more than doubled year over year as these customers continued moving more of their internal workloads and external instances to EPYC processors.

At the end of the reported quarter, EPYC processors powered more than 600 publicly available instances globally, following the launches of the latest instances from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.

In Enterprise, revenues declined year over year as demand slowed due to the challenging macroenvironment. In HPC, AMD-powered supercomputers on the latest Top 500 list increased 38% year over year.

AMD launched fourth-gen EPYC processors in the reported quarter that deliver up to two times faster performance in cloud, enterprise and HPC applications, and are up to 80% more energy efficient.

AMD witnessed record sales of its Xilinx data center and networking products in the reported quarter, led by strong demand from financial services companies for its newly launched Alveo X3 series boards, optimized for low latency trading.

Sales of AMD’s Pensando DPUs also ramped up significantly, driven by supply-chain improvements and continued demand.

The Client segment includes desktop and notebook PC processors, and chipsets. Revenues declined 50.6% year over year to $903 million and accounted for 16.1% of the total revenues. Client processor ASP was flat year over year.

The Gaming segment includes discrete graphics processors and semi-custom game console products. Revenues decreased 6.7% year over year to $1.64 billion and accounted for 29.4% of the total revenues.

The Embedded segment includes AMD and Xilinx embedded products. Revenues were $1.40 billion compared with the year-ago quarter’s $71 million. The segment accounted for 25% of the total revenues.

AMD benefited from strong demand for its products in aerospace and defense, industrial, and communications end-markets.

Operating Details

The non-GAAP gross margin expanded 80 basis points (bps) on a year-over-year basis to 51.1%. The gross margin expansion was primarily driven by higher Embedded segment revenues.

Non-GAAP operating expenses increased 45.2% year over year to $1.60 billion.

The non-GAAP operating margin of 22.5% contracted 500 bps on a year-over-year basis.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow

As of Dec 31, 2022, AMD had cash and cash equivalents (including marketable securities) of $5.86 billion compared with $5.59 billion as of Sep 24, 2022.

As of Dec 31, 2022, total debt was $2.47 billion, unchanged from the figure reported as of Sep 24, 2022.

Operating cash flow was $567 million compared with $965 million in third-quarter 2022.

Free cash flow was $443 million in the fourth quarter compared with $842 million in third-quarter 2022.

Guidance

AMD expects first-quarter 2023 revenues to be $5.3 billion (+/-$300 million), which indicates a year-over-year decline of 10%.

AMD expects to witness growth in Embedded and Data Center segments, partially offset by a decline in the Client and Gaming segments.

Sequentially, Embedded segment revenues are expected to increase. Client and Gaming segment revenues are expected to decline, largely consistent with seasonality. Data Center segment revenues are expected to decline due to elevated levels of inventory with some cloud customers.

The non-GAAP gross margin is anticipated to be 50%. Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be $1.6 billion.

For 2023, AMD expects Embedded and Data Center revenues to grow year over year due to a strong portfolio.  Moreover, it expects Client and the Gaming segment revenues to decline based on the current demand environment.

AMD expects the non-GAAP gross margin to be flat year over year in the first half and to expand in the second half of the year.

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates.

The consensus estimate has shifted -20.57% due to these changes.

VGM Scores

Currently, Advanced Micro has an average Growth Score of C, though it is lagging a lot on the Momentum Score front with an F. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. It's no surprise Advanced Micro has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We expect a below average return from the stock in the next few months.


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