SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Brocade Communications Systems Inc has pushed its fourth-quarter earnings release to three hours after the close of market on Monday, an unusual move that surprised some analysts and investors.

Most large technology companies report their results and hold their conference calls on the same day.

Analysts were left puzzled by the decision to post the results at 7 p.m. EST (2400 GMT), long after most U.S. traders have left the office. The company said its conference call with analysts will follow at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) on Tuesday.

“They’ve never done that before,” said Robert Baird analyst Jayson Noland, adding that he declined to speculate on why the change had happened. “There are companies that do that every quarter but most don’t.”

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By Ian Sherr

SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) – Intel Corp’s (INTC.O) chief financial officer said the chipmaker is on track to meet its fourth-quarter outlook and said a recovery in corporate spending on PCs could happen in the next 18 months.

“I think the ingredients are being put in place that will lead to a PC refresh cycle in large enterprises,” Stacy Smith told Reuters on Friday, adding that when the buying starts, it tends to include a lot of demand.

“The question is: is that the second half of 2010, is it 2011?” Smith, 47, said in an interview at Intel’s headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley. “I don’t think anybody can tell you they know the answer to that question.”

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