Updating Texas Instruments Inc., Tim Hortons Inc. and Macy’s Inc.

Article Excerpt

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $16 earned $0.01 a share in the first quarter of 2009, down sharply from $0.49 a year earlier. Sales fell 38.1%, to $2.1 billion from $3.3 billion. The company makes chips for cellphones and other devices, and the recession has hurt sales of these products. However, the latest results beat analysts’ expectations of a loss of $0.02 a share on sales of $1.9 billion. Buy. TIM HORTONS INC. $24 has increased its quarterly dividend by 11.1%. The new annual rate of $0.40 (Canadian) yields 1.3%. The company also plans to buy back up to 5% of its outstanding shares this year. Buy. MACY’S INC. $13 reported that its March same-store sales fell 9.2% from a year earlier. That’s worse than the 8.8% drop analysts had expected. However, online sales rose 17.9%. Macy’s is also lowering its costs, including a 4% cut to its workforce. These savings, and its well-known brands (Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s), should help it weather the recession…