Texas Toast

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Some Texans can tell you about life on the range. TexasInstruments (NYSE: TXN) is advising investors to set up camp at the lower end of that range after its disappointing midquarter update.

With sales weakness in its digital light processing (DLP) optical chips for digital projectors and high-end HDTV television sets, TI is now looking to earn between $0.22 to $0.24 a share during the March quarter. It had originally pegged its profits to come in between $0.22 and $0.26 a share.

The shortfall is all on the semiconductor side of the business. Sales that were expected to hit between $2.9 million and $3.14 million for the sector are now being capped at $3.03 million on the high end. Meanwhile, the revenue range for TI's two other segments -- sensors and controls, and educational and productivity solutions -- was narrowed to the warm center of earlier forecasts.

The stock dip shouldn't come as a major surprise. While consumer-electronics retailers like Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Circuit City (NYSE: CC) -- and even computer makers like Gateway (NYSE: GTW) and Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) -- are trying to move next-generation TVs, way too many consumers are either suffering from sticker shock or seeing that patience will pay off as the pricey sets get cheaper over time.

TI's DLP technology is impressive but, perhaps, fashionably early. The company already knows what it will be doing as it waits; last year, the company raised its dividend while kicking off a massive share buyback. That's the kind of thing companies do when they realize that things aren't going so hot in the short term.

Shareholders can take heart in knowing that at least the new targets are still within the original range, and income investors may be drawn to the company's yield, which now tops the 2% mark. Sure, the stock is trading a bit lower than it was a year ago, but it hasn't dipped into the teens the way it did this past summer.

TI isn't banking on having every television set in the country going kaput as a way to fuel upgrades to TI's DLP technology. Its more realistic assessment of the gradual upgrade process should give patient investors some hope.

How about some sides of related Foolishness to go with that Texas toast?

• Learn why you should hold off on buying that plasma TV.
• TI has a ton of cash on its hands, and it's not afraid to use it.
• Chat about the company's shortfall in our Texas Instruments discussion board.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz realizes that most Texans don't go around signing "Home on the Range." He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.