Chipmaker sees better earnings ahead

Article Excerpt

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $24 (New York symbol TXN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $31.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; WSSF Rating: Average) is seeing higher demand for its analog chips. These convert sounds and temperatures into digital signals that computers can understand. As a result, Texas Instruments expects to earn between $0.37 and $0.41 a share in the current quarter. That’s up from its previous estimate of $0.29 to $0.39 a share. Thanks to the improving earnings, the company also raised its quarterly dividend by 9.1%, to $0.12 a share from $0.11. The new annual rate of $0.48 yields 2.0%. Texas Instruments is a buy. buy…