Freshly minted Houston Astros Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte aren't the only ones looking to pitch big for Texas this year. Lone Star favorite Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) is also packing heat and continues to sling those optimistic fastballs.
Three months ago, the chip maker raised its fourth-quarter targets only to best those marks. Now, it's at it again, guiding Wall Street higher in a mid-quarter update for its first quarter.
For the quarter, Texas Instruments now looks to earn between $0.19 and $0.22 a share on $2.84 billion to $2.95 billion in revenue. That tightens a range provided earlier this year when the company expected to earn as little as $0.16 a share on $2.72 billion in revenue. Compare that to the just $0.07 it earned last year on $2.2 billion in net revenue -- and the small loss on $1.8 billion in net revenue the year before that.
That kind of turnaround and the upbeat outlook bodes well for the various sectors that the company serves. With demand growing in the cell phone handset and personal computer markets, companies like Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) should fare well -- even if chip makers like Texas Instruments are able to squeeze more markups into their chip components.
The turnaround in the chip sector isn't exactly a well-kept secret. Then again, while the stock has nearly doubled over the past year, that's still about a third what it fetched at its peak four years ago. And while Texas Instruments may not seem cheap at roughly 30 times earnings, that bottom line just keeps creeping higher every time the company speaks.
What do you think of Clemens and Pettite joining the Astros this year? What about A-Rod in pinstripes? Have any spring-training favorites you're watching? All this and more -- in the Major League Baseball discussion board. Only on Fool.com.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz doesn't think his hometown Florida Marlins stand a chance of repeating as World Series champs -- but that didn't stop him from relishing the surprising 2003 season. He does not own shares in any companies mentioned in this story.
