Intel Corp wins plaudits for its change of heart on Pentium replacements from Standard & Poor’s Corp, which affirmed its senior debt at A-plus and its commercial paper at A-1-plus. The agency says its rating on Intel has always recognised the potential financial impact of a product line disruption on a relatively narrowly-focused company, and the A-plus rating reflects this business risk, along with its effective marketplace dominance, its excellent profitability and the financial cushion provided by its extremely strong balance sheet, the agency said, noting that Intel had $2,000m of cash and $2,000m of long-term investments at September 30. It does warn that long-term effects of the replacement programme are unclear and says the stable outlook does not expect more than moderate product commoditisation or share loss: if cash flow and profitability are hit at a time when research and development and capital spending are rising to support new products, the outlook would be reviewed.
