Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)vs Intel Corporation (INTC)

Quick verdict

The cleanest dividing line between these two chipmakers over the twelve months to June 2026 is simple: AMD earned $6.4bn of net income on $41.3bn of revenue, while Intel lost $11.3bn on $57.0bn. That single fact shapes everything else on this page — earnings multiples exist for AMD and cannot exist for Intel, so the two are compared on sales, book value and cash instead. On our scoring AMD takes quality, balance sheet and income, Intel takes valuation on those sales- and asset-based measures, and growth and momentum are too close to call, giving AMD a 4–2 edge overall. Note the oddity of scale: at the 4 September 2026 close AMD's market capitalisation of $779.6bn sits well above Intel's $483.2bn despite Intel selling materially more product. Investors are paying for AMD's margins, not its revenue line.

At-a-glance comparison

Business model and revenue mix

Both firms sit in US semiconductors, but they are structured differently. AMD designs CPUs, GPUs and adaptive chips for PCs, servers, games consoles and data-centre AI, outsourcing manufacture; that fabless model shows up in a 53.2% gross margin and a balance sheet carrying just $3.2bn of total debt at 27 June 2026. Intel designs and manufactures its own CPUs and other chips for PCs and data centres, and is additionally building a contract foundry business — capital intensity that helps explain $50.5bn of total debt and a thinner 38.6% gross margin over the same trailing period. The revenue gap runs the other way: Intel's $57.0bn against AMD's $41.3bn for the twelve months to June 2026. Scale in units, therefore, does not translate into scale in profit here, and the two businesses convert sales to cash very differently.

Valuation

Because Intel's trailing earnings per share is negative at –$2.09, no price/earnings ratio is meaningful for it, and comparing AMD's 122.45x against a non-existent figure would mislead. On the measures that do work for both at the 4 September 2026 close, Intel is cheaper on every count: 8.47x sales against AMD's 18.87x, 5.52x book against 11.60x, and 42.34x EV/EBITDA against a striking 110.97x. Free cash flow yield tilts the other way modestly — AMD's 1.08% against Intel's 0.59% — but neither is generous. AMD's PEG of 2.62 suggests the earnings multiple is not fully explained by expected growth. Our valuation verdict goes to Intel on the strength of those multiples, with the caveat that its asset-based cheapness reflects losses rather than an unnoticed bargain.

Growth profile

Direction of travel differs sharply, yet the factor scores as a tie. AMD compounded revenue at 13.6% a year over the three fiscal years to 2025 from a 2022 base, and at 28.8% a year over five from 2020. Intel moved backwards on both horizons: –5.7% annually from 2022 and –7.5% from 2020. On earnings, AMD's 46.7% three-year EPS CAGR from 2022 flatters the picture considerably, because 2022 was a heavily depressed profit year — the five-year figure from 2020 is a far more sober 5.2%. No EPS growth rate can be shown for Intel, since a percentage change measured across a move into loss is arithmetic rather than growth. Taken together, one side grows off a weak profit base and the other shrinks; our scoring treats that as genuinely too close to call.

Profitability and quality

Margins are where the two separate most decisively. For the twelve months to June 2026 AMD converted revenue into a 15.7% operating margin and a 15.6% net margin, sitting on that 53.2% gross margin. Intel's operating margin was –0.14% — essentially breakeven at the operating line — and its net margin –19.8%. The distance between Intel's $77m operating loss and its $11.3bn net loss is large, and reflects charges and items below the operating line rather than day-to-day trading; this is also the reason earnings-based ratios have been withheld for Intel throughout. Cash tells a milder version of the same story: AMD generated $8.4bn of free cash flow against Intel's $2.8bn, despite Intel's larger revenue base. Our quality verdict goes to AMD, and the operating margin gap is the core of it.

Balance-sheet risk

Financial positions at 27 June 2026 are barely comparable. AMD held $5.1bn of cash against $3.2bn of total debt, leaving net cash — reflected in net debt/EBITDA of –0.27x — with a current ratio of 2.61 and interest cover of 44.1 times. Intel held more cash in absolute terms at $12.9bn, but against $50.5bn of total debt, giving net debt/EBITDA of 3.06x and a tighter current ratio of 1.60. Intel's interest coverage has been withheld because the figure is not interpretable when operating profit is negative; a coverage ratio built on an operating loss conveys nothing useful. The verdict here goes to AMD without much argument. Intel's leverage is not extreme for a capital-intensive manufacturer, but it is being carried through a loss-making period rather than a profitable one.

Price performance and shareholder returns

Returns on capital follow directly from the profit gap. AMD produced a 10.1% return on equity and 8.5% return on invested capital over the trailing year — respectable, though modest relative to an 11.6x price/book, partly because its equity base is large at $67.2bn. Intel's figures are negative: –11.7% return on equity on $87.5bn of shareholders' equity, and –0.05% return on invested capital, the latter reflecting that near-breakeven operating line rather than the much deeper net loss. ROIC is the more telling measure for this pair, since it strips out the financing differences between a net-cash designer and a debt-funded manufacturer. On that basis AMD earns a single-digit positive return while Intel earns effectively nothing. Neither number suggests exceptional capital efficiency; one is simply the right side of zero.

Which stock fits which investor

Income seekers have little to weigh: neither company paid a dividend in the twelve months to June 2026, with dividend yields of zero on both sides. AMD edges the income factor only through a token 0.04% buyback yield against Intel's zero — a rounding difference rather than a distribution policy. Growth-oriented investors are pointed towards AMD, the only one of the pair with positive revenue and earnings trajectories, styled here as a blend. Value-oriented investors are pointed towards Intel, styled as mature, on 8.47x sales and 5.52x book — but that cheapness sits alongside a $11.3bn trailing net loss, so it is a turnaround proposition rather than a quiet discount. Quality favours AMD on margins and balance sheet. Momentum scores as a tie between them.

• Value: INTC
• Growth: AMD
• Income: AMD
• Quality: AMD

Frequently asked questions

Which of AMD and Intel was profitable over the trailing twelve months?

AMD was. For the twelve months to June 2026 it reported $6.4bn of net income on $41.3bn of revenue, a 15.6% net margin. Intel reported a net loss of $11.3bn on $57.0bn of revenue, a net margin of –19.8%.

Why is there no P/E ratio shown for Intel?

Intel's trailing earnings per share was –$2.09 for the period to June 2026, so a price/earnings ratio would be negative and meaningless. Sales and book-value multiples are used instead: 8.47x and 5.52x respectively at the 4 September 2026 close.

Which stock is cheaper on the measures that apply to both?

Intel, on every shared multiple as at 4 September 2026: 8.47x sales versus AMD's 18.87x, 5.52x book versus 11.60x, and 42.34x EV/EBITDA versus AMD's 110.97x.

How do the two balance sheets compare?

AMD held $5.1bn of cash against $3.2bn of debt at 27 June 2026, a net cash position shown by net debt/EBITDA of –0.27x. Intel held $12.9bn of cash against $50.5bn of debt, giving 3.06x net debt/EBITDA.

Does either company pay a dividend?

No. Both showed a dividend yield of zero and no dividend per share over the twelve months to June 2026. AMD had a 0.04% buyback yield; Intel's was zero.

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