TI stock rises on good results
Cell phone chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc posted a quarterly profit and outlook that signaled solid demand for its chips despite a weak US economy, sending its shares up 3.5 percent.
TI - the first of several mobile industry heavyweights including Motorola Inc, Nokia Oyj and Qualcomm Inc to report earnings this week - soothed investor worries that sales of wireless chips or analog chips, used in a broad array of products, would falter amid economic concerns.
Chief Financial Officer Kevin March said in an interview that TI saw strong demand for chips used in third-generation phones with high-speed Web links while sales of chips for low-end handsets fell slightly from a year ago.
"I'd say our near term demand trends are good," March said.
Analysts saw the news as a good sign for Nokia, TI's biggest client and the world's top handset maker. Nokia is scheduled to report results today.
TI forecast first-quarter earnings of 43 cents to 49 cents a share, on revenue of $3.27 billion to $3.55 billion. That was roughly in line with Wall Street's expectations for earnings of 45 cents per share on revenue of $3.41 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
The maker of chips used in everything from cell phones to industrial products said its fourth-quarter net profit rose 13 percent to $756 million, or 54 cents a share, from $668 million, or 45 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Agencies
(China Daily 01/24/2008 page16)
