Intel's Q4 revenue in line, surpassed tablet shipment goal by 6 million units

Intel has been very vocal about how the Internet of Things plays into its long-term revenue strategy, and the newer department appears to be pulling its weight based on the latest earnings report.

The processor giant reported a net income of $3.7 billion (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were 74 cents per share on a revenue of $14.7 billion, up six percent year-over-year.

Wall Street was expecting earnings of 66 cents per share with $14.7 billion in revenue.

For the full year, Intel produced $55.9 billion in revenue -- also up six percent on an annual basis -- with a net income of $11.7 billion and EPS of $2.31.

At the beginning of 2014, Intel also touted a goal to ship at least 40 million tablets worldwide. The company surpassed that goal with roughly 46 million units shipped by year's end.

Looking closer by department, the Internet of Things unit is demonstrating rapid growth with revenue of $591 million last quarter, up 12 percent sequentially and 10 percent annually.

But for the whole year, the Internet of Things department climbed 19 percent from 2013 to be worth $2.1 billion in revenue.

Still the datacenter group appears to be Intel's best bet, with $4.1 billion in Q4 revenue alone, accumulating $14.4 billion for the year overall, up 18 percent from 2013.

Software and services revenue flattened out sequentially to $557 million, which was down six percent year-over-year.

The PC Client department also dropped three percent sequentially and annually to $8.9 million in revenue last quarter, while the mobile and communications group soured with negative revenue of $6 million, consistent with expectations.

Nevertheless, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich remained upbeat in prepared remarks, describing the fourth quarter as "a strong finish to a record year."

"We met or exceeded several important goals: reinvigorated the PC business, grew the Data Center business, established a footprint in tablets, and drove growth and innovation in new areas," Krzanich said, promising more in 2015, including boosting "profitability in mobile."

Earlier this month, Intel kicked off the year as Krzanich took to the stage at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to unveil Curie, a button-sized open source computer touted to "change the game" in the still-nascent wearable technology space.

For the first quarter of 2015, Wall Street expects Intel to deliver earnings of 51 cents per share on top of $13.77 billion in revenue.

Intel followed up a Q1 revenue goal slightly wavering the line with a forecast of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million.

For 2015 overall, Intel is projecting revenue "growth in the mid-single digit percentage points."