50.9% on 32B$ for TSMC[1] vs 62.3% on 62.7B$ for Intel[2]
That is closer than I expected it to be. In terms of actual cash (if you are wondering) Intel ended last year with $22B more of it than TSMC did.
[Disclaimer I own a small amount of Intel in my IRA account]
If you have ever been in an investment club (basically friends who get together and exchange ideas on what stocks to invest in) you have probably had the 'revenue/income' discussion.
Amazon is the poster child for 'net income doesn't matter' as it has reinvested most of its margin in itself over the years to grow.
So it can go either way.
TSMC does pay a dividend which Intel doesn't so from a financial trading/investing point of view you could argue that TSMC is a better stock to hold long as it will generate income.
From the 'future of the business' point of view re-investing more would seem to be the wiser strategy. Time will tell.
The problem is I haven't seen any major results from Intel's investment for the past 4+ years. And I have no idea where are all of their R&D into. TSMC has been building more Fabs every single year, higher expenditure, while Intel has had little to no Fab capacity expansion ( Apart from the recent 14nm shortage ). In terms of CAPEX TSMC is only second to Samsung, but Samsung is the world largest DRAM and NAND maker.
In terms of roadmap TSMC has been extremely open about their progress all they way down to 3nm and has been executing to perfection. They take pride to be Apple's pure play Fab.
I do believe in re-investing for the future, the problem is I have trouble seeing that future from Intel. And their management has been lying for far too long doesn't bring me confidence.
[1] http://www.tsmc.com/download/ir/annualReports/2017/english/p...
[2] https://s21.q4cdn.com/600692695/files/doc_financials/2017/an...