By Adam Clark
Mobileye Global shares were diving on Thursday after the autonomous-driving systems company said it expects a 50% fall in revenue in the first quarter of the year. The disappointment is also a blow to its former parent and majority shareholder Intel.
Mobileye said that it expects its revenue for the first quarter of 2024 to be “significantly below” the same period a year earlier. It blamed the forecast on excess inventory of its EyeQ computer chips being held by some of its customers.
The company expects first-quarter revenue to be down approximately 50%, from the $458 million revenue it generated in the first quarter of 2023. Analysts were forecasting first-quarter revenue to rise to $557.1 million, according to a FactSet consensus.
The company expects a first-quarter adjusted operating loss of $65 million to $80 million.
Mobileye shares were down 26% at $29.45 in premarket trading on Thursday.
The Israel-based company now expects combined revenue from the second quarter through to the fourth quarter of this year to be in the range of roughly flat to up by a mid-single-digit percentage as compared to the same period in 2023, with inventory at its customers to be at normal levels by the end of 2024.
Overall, Mobileye expects total revenue in the range of $1.83 billion to $1.96 billion for 2024. Analysts had forecast revenue of $2.56 billion, according to a FactSet poll.
Mobileye said it expects a full-year adjusted operating profit in the range of $270 million to $360 million.
Shares of Intel were also suffering on the surprise. Intel spun off Mobileye in 2022 but still retains an 88% stake in the company at the end of September. Intel shares were down 2.7% in premarket trading on Thursday, reversing earlier gains.
The fall in Mobileye’s share price weakens a potential source of funding for Intel, which sold a stake worth around $1.4 billion in the company last year.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com