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But Alex Vallecillo, portfolio manager with National City Investment Management Co., which owns Intel, cautioned tech investors to not get too excited about Intel's news, saying that just as IBM's earnings miss may not have meant that tech spending was heading for a major slowdown, Intel's good news doesn't necessarily mean that happy days are here again for all tech stocks.
"In the past, we were in a cycle where a rising tide lifted all boats and when the tide receded every boat went down but we're past that," said Vallecillo. "Now you have to look at stocks on a company- by-company specific basis and can't draw conclusions from one report."
To that end, another leading chip company, Linear Technology (Research), issued sales guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter on Monday that was below analysts' expectations and its stock fell nearly 1.5 percent after hours on the news.
Another fund manager added that Intel's results, while undeniably good, could just turn out to be good news for it and a select few others in the chip sector.
"Intel is obviously a bellwether that has to be paid attention to. The numbers were quite good and more importantly the guidance was good. This should put a floor under Intel's stock," said Barry Randall, manager of the First American Technology fund, which owns shares of TI and Applied Materials. "But Intel's news doesn't change the larger picture for tech."