Texas Instruments meets expectations, upbeat on current quarter: Stock buoyed by results

Texas Instruments Inc. reported increases in revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter and gave an upbeat view of the current quarter.
Analysts and investors are monitoring earnings forecasts for signs of an economic slowdown and Wall Street rewarded TI’s positive projections by sending its stock up in mid-morning trading. The stock hovered around $29.54 by mid-afternoon, up nearly 2% over its opening value.
TI said its fourth-quarter revenue reached $3.56 billion, up 3% from the year-ago quarter and the first year-on-year gain in four quarters. Operating profit reached $996 million, a nearly 23% increase over the year-ago quarter.
Full-year revenue reached $13.8 billion, down 3% over the prior year. Operating profit for 2007 reached $3.5 billion, a 4% increase over 2006.
The company forecast revenue for the current quarter to land between $3.27 billion and $3.55 billion.
According to RealMoney.com columnist Jay Somaney, TI derives 37% of its revenue from the wireless industry and the company’s projections were slightly lower than their historical pattern, in part due to a loss of wireless baseband chip business with Nokia Corp.
But TI executives said that demand for its wireless chips remained strong, particularly for so-called 3G phones, which provide demand for TI’s application processor chips that enable data features. Its business in baseband chips faces more competition as Nokia has selected rivals as suppliers.