SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Intel Corp. (INTC 19.76, -0.01, -0.05%) on Tuesday reported a third-quarter profit of $2.96 billion, or 52 cents a share, compared with a profit of $1.86 billion, or 33 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue was $11.1 billion, up from $9.4 billion. Analysts had expected the Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel to post earnings of 50 cents a share, on revenue of $11 billion, according to a consensus survey by Thomson Reuters. For the current quarter, Intel expects revenue of $11.4 billion, plus or minus $400 million.