Texas Instruments late Thursday beat analyst estimates for the fourth quarter but offered mixed guidance for the current period. TXN stock slid in extended trading.
The Dallas-based chipmaker earned $1.30 a share on sales of $4.01 billion in the December quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Texas Instruments to earn $1.21 a share on sales of $3.88 billion. On a year-over-year basis, TI's earnings per share declined 13% while its sales shrank 2%.
For the current quarter, Texas Instruments forecast earnings of $1.05 a share on sales of $3.9 billion. That's based on the midpoint of its outlook. Analysts were looking for earnings per share of $1.17 on sales of $3.85 billion in the first quarter. In the same period last year, TI earned $1.20 a share on sales of $3.66 billion.
Texas Instruments has been dealing with elevated inventories stemming from a cyclical downturn in demand, especially for automotive and industrial chips. Other end markets, including personal electronics, communication equipment and enterprise systems, are starting to recover, analysts say.
"Our cash flow from operations of $6.3 billion for the trailing 12 months again underscored the strength of our business model, the quality of our product portfolio and the benefit of 300mm production," Chief Executive Haviv Ilan said in a news release. "Free cash flow for the same period was $1.5 billion."
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, Texas Instruments stock dropped more than 4% to 191.92. During the regular session Thursday, TXN stock advanced 1.8% to close at 200.58.
Texas Instruments stock has been consolidating for the past 11 weeks at a buy point of 220.39, according to IBD MarketSurge charts. That buy point is also its all-time high, reached on Nov. 8.
TXN stock ranks No. 7 out of 31 stocks in IBD's semiconductor manufacturing industry group, according to IBD Stock Checkup. But Texas Instruments has a subpar IBD Composite Rating of 46 out of 99.
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