Two niche chipmakers: 1 buy and 1 hold

Article Excerpt

These two chipmakers continue to dominate their niche markets. We prefer Texas Instruments over Nvidia, as its wider variety of products and customers cuts its risk. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $48 (Nasdaq symbol TXN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $52.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ti.com) used to focus on chips for cellphones, but has shifted to analog chips, which convert inputs like touch, sound and pressure into electronic signals that computers can understand. Manufacturers use these chips in a variety of products, including cars, medical devices and appliances. In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, the company’s earnings rose 3.5%, to $683 million from $660 million a year earlier. Texas Instruments spent $743 million on share buybacks during the quarter. As a result, earnings per share gained 6.9%, to $0.62 from $0.58. Revenue rose 8.0%, to $3.3 billion from $3.0 billion. Strong demand for analog and embedded processor…