Chipmaker offers growth and rising income

Article Excerpt

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $92 (Nasdaq symbol TXN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 972.2 million; Market cap: $89.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.7; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ti.com) is a leading maker of analog chips. Those products convert inputs like touch, sound and pressure into electronic signals that computers can understand. Manufacturers use them in a variety of products, including cars, cameras and appliances. Analog chips supply 66% of the company’s overall revenue. It gets a further 23% of its revenue from embedded processor chips, which perform mathematical calculations. The remaining 11% of revenue comes from other chips, calculators and the licensing of technology to other firms. Revenue rose 6.9%, from $12.2 billion in 2013 to $13.05 billion in 2014. However, unfavourable exchange rates caused revenue to slip to $13.0 billion in 2015. Revenue then rose 2.8%, to $13.4 billion in 2016, and improved 11.9% to $15.0 billion in 2017. That rise was the result of higher chip sales to…