AMD Cuts Sales Expectations, Jobs

AMD got the first-quarter earnings reporting season off to a rough start late Monday by announcing lower-than-expected revenues and job cuts.

AMD said it expects to report first-quarter sales of $1.5 billion, up 22% from the year-ago quarter, but less than the $1.62 billion that analysts expected.

The chipmaker cited “lower than expected sales across all business segments,” and also announced that it will cut 10% of its workforce.

AMD will report full results April 17. Its shares lost 2% in after-hours trading.

Stocks ended Monday’s regular session little changed, as an early rally on a cash infusion for Washington Mutual gave way to selling on caution ahead of first-quarter earnings reports and lingering recession fears.

Yahoo lost 2.4% after Microsoft gave the company three weeks to agree to a deal or face a hostile takeover attempt. Microsoft’s deadline will come a few days after Yahoo reports quarterly results on April 22.

The Nasdaq ended the day down modestly despite analyst upgrades for several stocks, including Apple, KLA-Tencor, Novellus, ComScore and Nvidia. But Applied Materials fell 3% on a Credit Suisse downgrade.

ScanSource fell 13% on weak sales in its Catalyst Telecom unit.

The Nasdaq lost 6 to 2364, the S&P tacked on 2 to 1372, and the Dow added 3 to 12,612. Volume rose to 3.72 billion shares on the NYSE, and declined to 1.78 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by an 18-14 margin on the NYSE, while decliners led 15-14 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 64% on the NYSE, and 40% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 81-16 on the NYSE, and 57-79 on the Nasdaq.