Soft chip sales prompt earnings warning

Article Excerpt

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $28 (New York symbol TXN [Switches to Nasdaq on January 1, 2012, symbol TXN]; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $30.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ti.com) is seeing weaker demand for its analog chips, which convert sound and images into digital signals that computers can understand. As a result, earnings per share will probably fall to $1.85 in 2011 from $2.62 in 2010. The stock trades at 15.1 times the new estimate. That’s still a reasonable p/e, particularly as chip sales should rebound in 2012 as manufacturers use up their inventories. Texas Instruments is a buy. buy…