AMD share price soars, Intel relaxes…

Updated The news that AMD released its 750MHz Athlon processor caused its share price to top $30 in New York yesterday. The same news (probably, or perhaps even possibly), caused Intel's share price to slip around a point from $80 a share to $78 15/16. Now, we understand from sources close to Gateway, that the company might well back the Athlon processor. But all of the AMD-powered machines it sells will be at the high end, we are given to understand. Gateway is not as happy with Intel as it formerly was. The source said: "Here is the deal. GTW and AMD are back on. However, Intel is still vying to keep the desktop market theirs. GTW is still shipping other AMD stuff that have not yet EOL'd. It is a tight race. Most think it will ship and now official pronouncements are that it will ship, but the Intel race is not yet over. They could come in and fight for additional processors." Meanwhile, brokers Josephtal & Co re-iterated its opinion that AMD was a buy, just going to show that financial analysts know a bandwagon when they see it trundle down Wall Street with a heap of hacks tooting their trumpets on the back. To Josephtal's credit, however, we have received information that the firm first started upgrading AMD's stock on the 7th October. A representative said today that other brokers had joined after that, including Lehman Brothers, and latterly Gruntal and Salomon Smith Barney. The representative said: "The Stockzilla's of the world still haven't gotten the picture but I am sure they will after the fact when the stock will be too expensive for us to recommend with a straight face." Even one day is early in Wall Street, he commented. Those who dumped their AMD shares back in summer will be kicking themselves mightily. For some months, AMD's share price trundled along at around $16, and now it is almost double that. Over eight million AMD shares and 16 million Intel shares were traded yesterday, just going to show the volatility of putting your money on a company that shifts purified sand. The 52 week low for AMD came on the 14th of April, when its share price was trading at $14 9/16. Intel's 52 low was $50 1/8 on the 1st of June. ® See also Inteltrashes huge Gateway rebate scheme No Athlon for Gateway -- officially