“We’re on a path to be the company we aspire to be,” he said.

On the critical measure of gross margin, A.M.D. also beat Wall Street’s estimates. Gross margin for the quarter was 45 percent excluding licensing fees, compared with analysts’ average forecast of 41 percent.

The report was released after the close of trading Thursday. Shares of A.M.D. rose as much as 19 percent in after-hours trading; they closed up 21 cents at $4.12 in regular trading.

Looking ahead, A.M.D. expects revenue in the fourth quarter to be roughly the same as in the last quarter.

A.M.D.’s report follows a largely downbeat forecast from its rival Intel. On Tuesday, Paul S. Otellini, Intel’s chief executive, warned investors that the global economic crisis could hurt Intel’s business in the coming months, but he said it was too soon to determine the actual impact. He said that while Intel experienced some “softness” in September, the company’s profit rose 12 percent during the third quarter, but sales rose only 1 percent.

Last week, A.M.D. announced plans to split into two entities. One will continue to design microprocessors, while a new company, owned jointly by A.M.D. and a fund controlled by the Abu Dhabi government, will manufacture them.

The announcement of the split-up of A.M.D., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., came just as investors were starting to lose confidence in the company. In the last few years, A.M.D. lost considerable ground as it endured a bruising price war and encountered technical problems that hampered the introduction of its critical new chip, Barcelona. A.M.D. had long been struggling to pay for capital-intensive plants in order to stay competitive.

The Advanced Technology Investment Company, created by the Abu Dhabi government, said it would invest up to $8 billion in A.M.D.’s factory spinoff in exchange for a 55.6 percent stake in the new company.

After A.M.D.’s seventh consecutive quarterly loss, reported in July, the company’s board ousted Hector Ruiz from the chief executive job and replaced him with Mr. Meyer, an engineer who had been president and chief operating officer since 2006.