Intel (INTC) this afternoon posted Q1 revenue of $7.1 billion, a bit ahead of both the Street consensus of $6.98 billion and the company’s unofficial guidance of $7 billion. Profits of 11 cents a share were well ahead of the Street consensus of 3 cents.

“We believe PC sales bottomed out during the first quarter and that the industry is returning to normal seasonal patterns,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement.

Several factors apparently contributed to the better-than-expected profits:

• Restructuring and asset impairment charges were $74 million, below the expected $160 million.
• Net loss from equity investments, interest and other was $18 million, below the expected $130 million, largely due to “the strengthened market for certain debt instruments” at the end of the quarter.

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THQ (THQI) shares are posting a fat gain today after the videogame company announced that it has completed a previously announced cost-reduction plan designed to chop its annual spending by $220 million.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell said in a statement that the company’s goal is to return to profitability and generate positive cash flow in the March 2010 fiscal year, and to position the company for long-term sustainable growth.

The company said March quarter results will include $45 million in “realignment expenses,” including $4 million in cash costs. The restructuring includes cutting its SKUs by about 20 percent and closing or selling four of its game development studios. The plan: producer fewer, better games.

Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell this morning pounded the table on the stock, repeating his Buy rating and $6 target price, and asserting that there are near-term catalysts ahead for the stock. Weirdly, the note actually says that the company will “soon announce its restructuring is complete,” and of course they announced exactly that this morning. (He should have issued the note a day earlier, I’d say.)

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Texas Instruments (TXN) this afternoon said it will cut its staff by 12 percent, including 1,800 layoffs and 1,600 voluntary retirements and departures. The company will take about $300 million in related charges. TI said total saving from the latest cuts and the restructuring of its wireless business late last year will total about $700 million after all reductions are completed in Q3.

Meanwhile, the company posted slightly better than expected results for Q4, with revenues of $2.49 billion and non-GAAP profits of 21 cents a share, beating the Street at $2.37 billion and 12 cents.

For Q1, however, Texas Instruments sees revenue of $1.62 billion to $2.12 billion, which would be down 15 to 35 percent sequentially from Q4. The company sees EPS for the quarter ranging from a loss of 11 cents a share to a profit of three cents, including charges of three cents a share for restructuring. Back those out, and you get a range of loss of eight cents to a profit of six cents. The Street has been expecting $2.1 billion and four cents.

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More trouble lurks ahead for Yahoo (YHOO), Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Agrawal warned this morning.

“We believe that the fundamentals at YHOO are deteriorating,” he writes in a research note. “On the one hand, economic headwinds and turmoil in the financial markets are causing weaker display ad revenues. On the other hand, changes with the minimum bid with search and a possible GOOG/YHOO deal are causing an outcry among many advertisers. To further complicate the situation is an ongoing loss of talent which might accelerate with renewed restructuring efforts. We don’t see any near-term upside in the shares of YHOO on a fundamental basis.”

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