5:30 PM ET: Another question about PC CPU sales.
Su says AMD is guiding for Client and Gaming sales to be modestly down in Q4, and that the company is under-shipping consumption. Adds that AMD now expects PC units to be down a high-teens % in 2022, and is taking a cautious approach to modeling 2023 PC demand.
5:28 PM ET: AMD’s stock is now up 6.8% AH.
5:28 PM ET: A question about the impact of an extra week in Q4.
Su says the extra week AMD will have in Q4 isn’t expected to have a material impact on sales.
A follow-up question about PC CPU pricing.
Su says PC CPU ASPs fell Q/Q in Q3, but were still up Y/Y. Says AMD will stay disciplined about pricing. Notes the company saw some “pricing dynamics” in PC CPUs in Q3 and chose not to take some unprofitable sales.
5:26 PM ET: Regarding GM headwinds, Kumar notes that Client sales weakness is a margin headwind, as is the growth of some non-CPU Data Center products and investments to grow supply.
5:24 PM ET: A question about 2023 Data Center growth expectations.
Su says it’s early to issue precise guidance for 2023. Notes all of AMD’s segments face some macro pressures, while adding the North American cloud market is very resilient. Says that while there could be some near-term “optimization” work by NA cloud clients, demand will grow in 2023.
Su adds that China cloud demand is weak, and that AMD isn’t expecting a recovery. Notes enterprise demand is seeing some choppiness due to firms pushing out buying decisions, but reiterates AMD is confident it can take share here.
5:21 PM ET: The Q&A session has started. First question is about when PC CPU sales will bottom.
Su notes the Q4 guidance assumes PC CPU sales will be down again, and says this will be a significant step towards clearing inventory.
A follow-up question about server CPU supply constraints. Su says AMD has made progress towards eliminating supply constraints, and that it expects Genoa won’t be supply-constrained when it formally launches.
5:19 PM ET: Kumar says AMD will take several near-term cost-cutting measures, while continuing to invest in long-term priority areas.
5:18 PM ET: Regarding inventories, Kumar says the Q/Q growth was primarily driven by Client products (PC CPUs) and the ramp of new products.
For the Q4 sales guide, he says Y/Y growth is driven by Data Center and Embedded, partially offset by declines in Client and Gaming. Likewise, Data Center and Embedded sales are expected to be up Q/Q, while Client and Gaming are expected to be down.
5:15 PM ET: Kumar is recapping AMD’s Q3 financial performance. Notes the top and bottom-line impacts of soft Client demand amid large customer inventory corrections.
5:12 PM ET: CFO Devinder Kumar is now talking. Shares are now up 3.5% AH.
5:11 PM ET: Q3 PC CPU sales are said to have trailed end-user consumption, with Su adding desktop sell-through increased Q/Q.
Game-console SoC sales hit a record, and console demand is said to still be strong. Gaming GPU sales were once more hurt by channel inventory reductions ahead of the pending launch of AMD’s RDNA 3 gaming GPU line.
Embedded (Xilinx) demand is said to remain strong across end-markets. Communications embedded sales are said to have hit a record. Su says “deeper engagements” with embedded clients that involve both AMD and Xilinx products are driving new design wins.
5:07 PM ET: Su notes AMD’s Epyc lineup will broaden in 2023 with the launch of its Bergamo and Siena lines. The former targets cloud giants, and the latter targets telco/edge workloads.
5:05 PM ET: Su reiterates Q3 sales were hurt by weaker PC demand and related inventory cuts. Notes server CPU sales hit a record for the 10th straight quarter, and that cloud server CPU sales more than doubled Y/Y. More than 70 Epyc-powered cloud computing instances launched.
OEM server CPU revenue fell Q/Q due to match-set supply issues and some enterprises slowing orders. Server GPU sales were down significantly Y/Y, due to large year-ago sales related to the Frontier supercomputer. FPGA and networking data center product sales hit records, as did Pensando sales.
5:03 PM ET: CEO Lisa Su is talking.
5:01 PM ET: The call is starting. AMD’s stock is up 3% AH going into it.
4:58 PM ET: AMD’s earnings call should kick off shortly. Here’s the webcast link , for those looking to tune in.
4:57 PM ET: AMD’s own inventories totaled $3.37B at the end of Q3, up from $2.65B at the end of Q2. AMD had been making large purchase commitments to suppliers in recent quarters (particularly TSMC), albeit not to the same degree as Nvidia.
4:53 PM ET: A small correction : AMD’s original Q3 guidance (issued in its Q2 report) was shared in early August, rather than July.
4:51 PM ET: AMD spent $617M on stock buybacks in Q3, after having spent $920M in Q2.
Q3 free cash flow was $842M (up from $764M a year ago), and AMD exited the quarter with $5.6B in cash/equivalents and $2.5B in debt.
4:48 PM ET: Of note: AMD’s Q3 non-GAAP operating expenses came in at $1.52B, up 47% Y/Y (boosted by both the Xilinx deal and organic investments) but below its original guidance of ~$1.64B.
For Q4, AMD is guiding for opex of ~$1.55B
4:41 PM ET: Q3 slides for the Gaming and Embedded segments. With Xilinx having reported revenue of $936M in its September 2021 quarter, Q3 Embedded revenue of $1.3B suggests Xilinx’s sales grew strongly Y/Y.
It’s worth noting Embedded also includes AMD’s sales of embedded CPUs. But on the flip side, it doesn’t include Xilinx’s data center FPGA sales, which are counted by the Data Center segment.
4:36 PM ET: AMD’s Q3 slides for its Data Center and Client segments. Client posted a small op. loss as sales tumbled, while Data Center saw op. income grow 64% amid 45% revenue growth.
Also: AMD says it made initial shipments of its next-gen Epyc CPUs (Genoa), which will be formally announced on 11/10, and that shipments of Pensando DPUs and Xilinx data center FPGAs “ramped significantly.”
4:33 PM ET: AMD remains moderately higher: Shares are up 1.3% to $60.44.
4:31 PM ET: Also in-line with the preannouncement: AMD’s Q3 non-GAAP gross margin (hurt by $160M worth of charges) was 50%, down from 54% in Q2 and up from 48.5% a year ago.
The company is guiding for a Q4 non-GAAP GM of 51%. The full-year GM guidance has been lowered by 2 points from July levels to 52%.
4:28 PM ET: In line with the Q3 preannouncement, Data Center revenue totaled $1.6B (+45% Y/Y, boosted by strong cloud demand and share gains).
Client (PC CPU) revenue totaled $1B (down 40% amid weak PC demand and large inventory reductions). Gaming revenue totaled $1.6B (+14%, console SoC sales up, gaming GPU sales down). And Embedded revenue (mostly Xilinx) totaled $1.3B.
4:24 PM ET: Here’s the Q3 report , for those interested.
4:22 PM ET: Also perhaps helping: AMD says it expects its Data Center (server CPU) and embedded (Xilinx) segments to grow both Q/Q and Y/Y in Q4.
4:20 PM ET: AMD’s stock is now up 2.8% AH. Though the Q4 sales guide was light, informal expectations were clearly below consensus.
4:18 PM ET: The full-year revenue guide, which takes into account Q3 results and Q4 guidance, has been cut to $23.5B (+/- $300M) from July levels of $26.3B.
4:17 PM ET: Shares are down 0.8% AH for now.
4:16 PM ET: Results are out. Q3 revenue of $5.57B is close to a preliminary forecast of ~$5.6B. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.67 is slightly below a $0.69 consensus.
AMD guides for Q4 revenue of $5.5B, plus or minus $300M. That’s below a $5.95B consensus.
4:10 PM ET: Still waiting for the Q3 report to come out.
4:00 PM ET: AMD closed down 0.7% to $59.66. The Q3 report should be out soon.
3:57 PM ET: Expectations appear subdued: AMD’s stock is down 58% YTD going into its Q3 report. With PC sales known to be weak, AMD’s guidance/commentary for server CPU demand will likely get a lot of attention.
3:52 PM ET: The FactSet consensus is for AMD to report Q3 revenue of $5.65B and non-GAAP EPS of $0.69. But with AMD having already warned on Oct. 6, the company’s Q4 guidance is bound to have a bigger impact on how its stock moves post-earnings. The Q4 sales consensus is currently at $5.95B.
3:50 PM ET: Hi, this is Eric Jhonsa. I’ll be live-blogging AMD’s Q3 report and call.