Is The Worst Over? Here's What The Street Thinks Of Intel's Earnings

traded higher Wednesday in the wake of a better-than-feared first quarter

, with at least a few analysts suggesting the worst of its troubles are over. Intel traded recently at $32.94, up about 4.6 percent. Intel, which gets about half of its revenue from chips designed for personal computers, has been struggling as its key market falters in the face of mobile and tablet competition. Moreover, the company said Tuesday that the average life span for personal computers has lengthened recently to four years, from three. The company's belated effort to enter the market for mobile chips has proven costly but on Wednesday Intel announced a $1.3 billion cut to capital spending it had earlier expected at $11.3 billion "The worst is over," Bank of America's Vivek Arya, who maintained a Buy rating and $38 target. The company's recent inventory reduction should set the stage for seasonally higher PC chip sales in the second half of 2015, augmented by an expected launch of a new version of the Windows operating system. RBC's Douglas Freeman upgraded the shares to Outperform and boosted his target 5 percent to $40. "Bearish sentiment on PCS is fully priced in," Freeman said. "Investors should focus on data center" products as a sales growth driver, Freeman said. Sales for the segment grew about 19 percent in the recent quarter. Related Link:

Results for the recent quarter were "somewhat mixed" in the view of BMO's Ambrish Srivastava, who maintained an Outperform rating and $40 target. Srivastava praised the capital spending cut and said the company's flat 2015 revenue guidance implies "healthy" growth in the second half. Analysts at Deutsche Bank, Stifel, W.R. Hambrecht and Jefferies each maintained Buy ratings on Intel Wednesday. FBR's Christopher Rolland maintained an Outperform rating and $40 target. Rolland said 2015 will prove to be "slightly disappointing" with PC chip sales falling by the "mid to single-digits." But Rolland added that "Moore's law is more durable than any one computer form." Yet Intel's growth and profitability outlook in mobile computing remains questionable, according to Oppenheimer's Richard Shafer, who maintained a Market Perform rating on Intel. Intel offered no comment Tuesday on unconfirmed reports that it had offered $54 a share for

.