Intel plunges 30%, most since 1982, after announcing layoffs and weak guidance
- Intel's stock plunged as much as 30% on Friday, its biggest daily decline since at least 1982.
- The dip comes after the company announced plans to lay off 15,000 workers.
Intel's stock took a big hit after the company issued disappointing guidance and announced sweeping layoffs in its most recent earnings report.
Shares plunged as much as 30% on Friday, its biggest single-day drop since at least 1982, according to Bloomberg data.
The decline comes after the software company announced quarterly revenue of $12.83 billion, down 1% from the previous year and missing analyst expectations of $12.94 billion, according to LSEG estimates.
The company also lowered its revenue forecast for the current quarter to a range between $12.5 billion and $13.5 billion, down from analyst estimates of $14.35 billion.
Intel executives pointed to unexpected trends in the most recent quarter, despite product milestones for the company.
"Our Q2 financial performance was disappointing, even as we hit key product and process technology milestones," CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a press release. "Second-half trends are more challenging than we previously expected, and we are leveraging our new operating model to take decisive actions that will improve operating and capital efficiencies."
Those operations and efficiency improvements include plans to layoff over 15% of staff by the end of this year, realign structure and operations, and cut operations expenses by over $10 billion next year.
The stock's fall and weak earnings also had spillover effects in global semiconductor stocks, too. Tokyo Electron fell 12% in Japan, driving down the index to its worst day since 2020. The Netherlands' ASML fell more than 8%, while Nvidia tumbled 7% at intraday lows.
Intel's executives said they want to conduct their restructuring plan quickly, and foresee longer-term success as result.
"In terms of the long-term forecast, we're clearly tempering our view of how fast we can grow in the near term based on the market conditions, but our model is built that we will scale up or scale down the capital requirements appropriate to the market conditions we see," Gelsinger told investors in a Thursday call.