AMD shared yesterday the results of the fourth quarter of 2021. At first glance, they already seem positive, but when we compare them with the results of the same period of 2020, that is, year over year, we realize that they are even better than expected, and confirm that the Sunnyvale company has had a spectacular year end.
Let’s go with the numbers. AMD recorded, in the fourth quarter of 2020, revenues of 3,244 million dollars, a figure that, in the fourth quarter of 2021, rose to 4,826 million dollars. This means that, in the last quarter of last year, their revenue recorded a 49% increase, a very positive fact, especially considering that 2021 has been marked by a significant shortage of semiconductors.
If we talk about gross profit, during the fourth quarter of 2020 AMD closed with a total of 1,451 million dollars. In the same period of 2021, gross profit was 2,426 million dollars, which represents a growth of 67%. Gross margin was 50%, compared to 45% in the same quarter in 2020, and operating margin went from 18% to 25%, also year over year.
AMD’s net income for the fourth quarter of 2021 reached 974 million dollars, a figure that represents a drop of 45% compared to 1,781 million dollars in the same period in 2020. However, when we look at the non-GAAP basis of accounting We see a very different result, as fourth quarter 2021 net income rises to $1,122 million, an amount that represents an increase of 76% compared to 636 million dollars in the same period of the previous year, always on that “Non-GAAP” basis.
AMD has also confirmed that the diluted earnings per share were $0.80, down from $1.45 in Q4 2020 (on a Non-GAAP basis earnings were $0.92 in Q4 2021, up from $0.52 in Q4 2020) . Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $3.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, with AMD repurchasing $756 million worth of stock during that period.
The Sunnyvale company has good forecasts for 2022, and Lisa Su herself, CEO of the company, has openly stated it by saying: “2021 has been a banner year for AMD, with record annual revenue and profitability. Each of our businesses performed extremely well, with data center revenue doubling year over year, driven by the growing adoption of AMD EPYC processors across cloud and enterprise customers. We expect another year of significant growth in 2022, as we expand our current portfolio and we launch our next generation of PC, gaming and data center products.
