Intel's results come as chip giant faces a year of challenges
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is set to deliver its fourth-quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday. And while there will the standard amount of attention given to how the company did over the last three months, what will likely be of more interest to Wall Street is whatever the semiconductor giant says about any of its multiple major initiatives that are in the works.

For the quarter ending in December, analysts expect Intel (INTC) will report a profit of 91 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on $18.36 billion in revenue. During the year-ago quarter, Intel (INTC) earned $1.52 a share on sales of $20 billion.
Intel's (INTC) results come just shy of a year since Pat Gelsinger took over as the company's chief executive and embarked on turnaround efforts that he recently said would take five years to complete. One part of Gelsinger's plan includes Intel (INTC) stepping up and producing new central processing chips every year until 2025.

Expanding more into the data center is also one of Gelsinger's targets. However, like many chip companies, Intel (INTC) has been hampered by supply chain shortages at fabrication plants, and Gelsinger himself has said he doesn't expect the supply chain issues to alleviate until next year.
Still, Intel (INTC) is pushing forward on several fronts that are likely to keep it in investors' sights in the months ahead.
The most notable of those is the Intel's (INTC) plans to spin off its Mobileye automotive chip business in an IPO by midyear. Intel (INTC) is expected to retain a majority ownership stake in Mobileye, which itself is seen as being worth as much as $50 billion when it goes public.
Another item that Gelsinger and Intel (INTC) could be questioned about is the company's plan to invest at least $20 billion in a massive new chip manufacturing plant neat Columbus, Ohio. Construction on the facility is set to begin this year, with an eye on products rolling off the assembly line by 2025. The plant is expected to employ at least 3,000 full-time workers.
As if all of that weren't enough, Intel (INTC) also has a new chief financial officer coming on board. Earlier this month, Intel (INTC) named Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)
CFO David Zinsner as its new finance boss. Zinsner is replacing George Davis, who is retiring from the company in May.
Analyst Christopher Danely, of Citigroup, last week raised his price target on Intel's (INTC) stock to $58 a share from $52, saying the company is likely to deliver better-than-expected quarterly results due to strength in its enterprise and PC notebook businesses.