Pacific Crest Securities analyst Michael McConnell expects Intel to say that it anticipates its Q4 sales will come in toward the higher end of the $8.1-8.7 billion range the chip giant set after announcing its Q3 figures last October.

Intel will publish its mid-quarter report tomorrow. It will announce that it now expects sales to fall within a range of $8.5 billion to $8.7 billion, according to report issued by PCS this week. Strong seasonal sales is the driver.

Even sales at the very bottom of that range will amount to a nine per cent increase over the $7.8 billion worth of sales Intel achieved during Q3. McConnell expects sequential revenue growth in the order of ten per cent, on Q4 sales of $8.6 billion. He's also forecasting quarterly earnings of 30 cents a share, and annual revenues of $29.8 billion, up from $26.8 billion last year. ®