AMD lost $1.424 billion in Q4 2008, sales down 33 percent

AMD reports a fourth quarter 2008 revenue of $1.162 billion, down 33 percent versus last year's $1.74 billion. The chip company says it lost another $1.424 billion last quarter, or $2.34 per share, compared to a loss of $3.06 a share a year ago.

Excluding one-time charges, AMD lost 69 cents per share. Analysts were expecting an adjusted loss of 54 cents per share on a revenue of $1.23 billion, according to MarketWatch.

AMD today reported fourth quarter 2008 revenue from continuing operations1 of $1.162 billion. Fourth quarter 2008 revenue decreased 35 percent compared to the third quarter of 2008 and 33 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Fourth quarter 2008 revenue was down 28 percent sequentially, excluding third quarter 2008 process technology license revenue of $191 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, AMD reported a net loss of $1.424 billion, or $2.34 per share. For continuing operations, fourth quarter 2008 loss was $1.414 billion, or $2.32 per share, and the operating loss was $1.274 billion. The results for continuing operations include an unfavorable impact of $996 million, or $1.64 per share as described in the table below. Loss from discontinued operations was $10 million, or $0.02 a share.

In the third quarter of 2008, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.797 billion, including process technology license revenue of $191 million, a net loss of $127 million, income from continuing operations of $23 million and operating income of $122 million. In the fourth quarter of 2007, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.737 billion, a net loss of $1.772 billion, a loss from continuing operations of $1.298 billion and an operating loss of $1.187 billion.

“Although industry visibility is poor, our priorities remain clear and achievable,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD’s president and CEO. “We remain focused on further reducing our breakeven point through targeted restructuring actions while ensuring we execute our highly-competitive product and technology roadmaps. We made significant progress toward the creation of ‘The Foundry Company’ in the quarter, and anticipate closing the transaction in February. We expect our ongoing restructuring actions and asset smart strategy, combined with the strength of our innovative product offerings, will leave us well positioned for a global market recovery.”

Fourth quarter 2008 gross margin was 23 percent, including a negative impact of 20 percentage points due to a $227 million incremental write down of inventory due to weak market conditions. Third quarter 2008 gross margin was 51 percent, 45 percent excluding process technology license revenue.

For the year ended December 27, 2008, AMD reported sales of $5.808 billion and a net loss of $3.098 billion. AMD reported revenue of $5.858 billion and a net loss of $3.379 billion for fiscal 2007.

The deal with ATIC to create The Foundry Company remains on track to close in February. In light of the current macroeconomic conditions, very limited visibility and continued corrections in the supply chain, AMD expects first quarter 2009 revenue to decrease from the fourth quarter 2008.

UPDATE: During the conference call AMD said they expect to become profitable again in Q2 2009 and that they're going to try to lower their break-even point from $1.5 billion to $1.3 billion. Previously, AMD promised investors a return to profitability in the second half of 2008.