Q4 Will Be 'Weaker' for Texas Instruments, Recent Q3 Marked by Increasing Profits

Texas Instruments (News - Alert) saw its Q3 profit increase 30 percent recently, but some of the apparent strength can be explained away by one-time events.

Meanwhile, weaker times are ahead in Q4 for the company and the sector.

During the third quarter, the company’s revenue edged down 2 percent to $3.39 billion, compared to $3.47 billion in Q3 of 2011. The Q3 revenue was more than predicted, with analysts having projected $3.34 billion.

In addition, Q3 net income was $784 million, relative to $601 million in Q3 of 2011.

Also, the company saw some benefits related to a Japanese pension program and changes in taxes, according to a report on TMCnet. Also, a $60-million payment was made recently to the company for damage it experienced at its manufacturing plants in last year’s earthquake in Japan, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Texas Instruments CEO Rich Templeton also released a statement in connection with the quarterly earnings report that said the company expects the “economy and semiconductor market … likely will get weaker in the fourth quarter."

Texas Instruments is predicting Q4 earnings per share will be between 23 cents and 31 cents per share. Analysts had predicted 36 cents a share.

“The fourth quarter's EPS will be negatively affected by about 6 cents from acquisition and restructuring charges,” the company said in the statement. Also, Q4 revenue is predicted to be between $2.83 billion and $3.07 billion, according to the company. That’s less than the $3.23 billion that analysts had predicted.

In addition, the company, like other chip makers, is seeing lower demand for products.

"What we're seeing is that [customers] are uncertain as to their end demand ... and they're carrying as little inventory as they feel they can get away with," Kevin March, Texas Instruments CFO, said in a statement made during conference call with analysts, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. "We hope some of that is resolved after the elections."

Also, JoAnne Feeney, an analyst at Longbow Research, told Bloomberg (News - Alert) Businessweek that Texas Instruments is “doing better than their competitors."

"Their third-quarter earnings came in better than what we expected, but that 13 percent down guidance is worse than we've seen from anybody else," she added.

In addition, the company noted that during Q3, Analog and Embedded Processing units comprised 70 percent of the Texas Instrument’s revenue.

In other company news, Amazon.com (News - Alert) is in discussions to acquire the mobile chip unit of Texas Instruments, which could be valued in the billions of dollars, according to TMCnet.