Thursday, March 22, 2012

Techs up even as Texas Instruments slips

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Shares of Texas Instruments slipped Friday after the company cut its outlook, but the tech sector got a lift from gains semiconductor companies led by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �moved up 0.6% to close at 2,988, ending the week with a fractional gain. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �added 1%, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH �rose a fraction.

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TI�s TXN �stock shed 1% to close at $32.27 after the Dallas-based company on Thursday reduced its earnings and sales forecast citing weaker demand for its wireless products, including its applications processor, called OMAP, widely used in smart phones, e-readers and tablets.

TI said the revenue miss was due to some customers adjusting inventories for the processor following strong sales in the fourth quarter.

In a call with analysts, TI Vice President Ron Slaymaker noted, �Whenever there�s a new product introduction by a customer, there�s also an associated one-time surge of revenue as those customers fill their channels with product.�!

But he also added, �Although we had anticipated lower sequential revenue associated with that non-recurrence of the fourth quarter channel fill, demand for OMAP is lower than what we had originally expected, as our customers are now rationalizing both their expectations for ongoing demand, as well as the associated inventory.�

While TI did not offer details on its customers, some analysts pointed to Amazon.com AMZN �as the likely key factor for the shortfall. The company rolled out its Kindle Fire tablet late last year, immediately becoming a hot seller.

�Demand for OMAP came in weaker than expected as customers that contributed to strong growth in recent quarters (primarily Amazon) began to rationalize their sales forecasts and inventories post holiday season,� Needham analyst Vernon Essi said in a note.

Shares of Amazon.com AMZN �slid 1.8% to close at $184.32.

But the tech sector was mostly in positive territory, getting a boost from other chip shares.

AMD AMD �was up 1.5%, closing at $7.58, while Intel INTC �rose nearly 1% to close at $27.07. Gains also came from Cisco Systems CSCO �, Apple Inc AAPL �and eBay Inc EBAY ! �.

On the downside, shares of Hewlett-Packard HPQ �, Dell Inc DELL �and Google Inc. GOOG �were in the red.

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