Loss of momentum for feisty AMD

Just like a phone call at 4 a.m. almost never brings good news, a press release appearing late in the day usually means something is wrong.

Advanced Micro Devices stunned the financial community late Thursday with a warning that its fourth-quarter revenue and profits would be below expectations. The warning came just weeks after a New York meeting for analysts in which the company painted a rosy picture of its prospects for 2007.

Investors punished AMD on Friday, sending its stock down $1.92, or about 10 percent, to close at $18.26 on the New York Stock Exchange. That's pretty close to the company's 52-week low set in July. Citigroup downgraded the company to a "hold," and Nollenberger Capital Partners' Hans Mosesmann lowered his price target for the stock from $13 to $8.

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