AMD releases disastrous Q4 2014 earnings report

[Redaktion]

The last quarter of 2014 spelled financial disaster for AMD. After turning a small profit in 2013, the chip-maker recently reported a loss of 403 million US dollars for 2014, one mainly driven by poor performance during the fourth quarter of the year.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-releases-disastrous-Q4-2014-earnings-report.134895.0.html

[Kasper A ndr]

I might be biased since I mostly find myself compelled to comment on AMD-stories. However, this article is seriously biased. Three basic questions are in order: 1) Why did AMD despite the result not announce any layoffs or initiatives designed to make up for the loss? 2) Why did the result barely impact the stock price? 3) Is there any serious correlation, or hard data to support claims about unrest in the top management?

There are answers to be found to these questions, but the author of this article seems to have made up his mind beforehand.

I have too much respect for this site to go along with such sloppy reporting.

[Codrut Nistor]

I will answer on a personal note, as long-term AMD user who switched to Intel in 2012 and from Radeon to NVIDIA in 2014...
1. That loss is in the past. They may be cooking something awesome.
2. Exactly my point. The market reflects reality better than financial results taken out of the big picture. While AMD processors are not doing that great, the video cards have a strong position on the market.
3. I think you missed a few details. "Apparently" is one of them. The other is a logical deduction - when the big names on top are leaving a company like AMD, it is rather safe to assume the unrest amongst top management. It may not always be true, but it usually proves to be the real thing.

Are you AMD fan? I always loved them and I still do, although my hardware is currently in the other camp (well, I still got an RM-75-powered laptop from 2009 and that one still works fine), but I think maybe you overreacted to this article.

[gc]

Error:
" Enterprise, Embedded, and semi-custom SoCs declined 11 percent during 2014. "
should be
" Enterprise, Embedded, and semi-custom SoCs declined 11 percent from Q3 to Q4 2014. "

The console orders didn't start until the latter half of 2013 and have been selling all of 2014, so the 51% increase claimed for 2014 makes more sense.

[Kasper A ndr]

I am not sure whether I overreacted. It appears to be quite rare that internet commentators or analysts are accurate, forthcoming or evenhanded when discussing the financial performance of corporations such as AMD. So you can't really expect too much. I just didn't think Notebookcheck would publish articles on such loaded topic without at least addressing the long term. Which I find to be in sharp contrast to their in depth reviews, without a doubt the best laptop reviews available. I admit though that the use of "apparently" could just as well be suggestive rather than a statement of facts. However, I still think it is important to reserve judgment or speculation on the causality of actions when there is no real data to support any claim one way or another.

On a personal note, I think AMD is a very interesting company, and I am probably a fan. I was very interested in computers well into the Athlon XP era, but it was only three years ago that I got into computers again and by that time AMD was very mediocre. These Bulldozer years have been very boring. Still though, I think their cat core products show promise. My Lenovo E145 which I purchased based on a review on this site has been a stellar companion for a year now (with the obligatory SSD-upgrade). I think more than ever that they are on track to produce the right low power parts that can do well against Intel and perhaps renew the competition. Though I respect the fact that Intel has a significant process advantage, even if 14 nm is close.

[Codrut Nistor]

A SSD upgrade could make even Cyrix processors from 1996 look interesting... :)

[Kasper A ndr]

Well that probably depends on the OS in question... :) But SSDs are the real deal for most users today.