Intel (NYSE:INTC) isn't the only chipmaker wearing a big, you-know-what kind of grin on its corporate face these days: Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) has some good news of its own to report.
With what it characterized as "growing demand" for its semiconductors and slide-rule replacements (i.e., calculators), the tech titan winked at Wall Street and raised guidance for its second-quarter results during a conference call after the market's close yesterday. The company now expects earnings per share in the neighborhood of $0.27 to $0.30 and upped the low end of its revenue estimate to $3.12 billion from $3 billion.
That news may give a lift to Texas Instruments' shares, which -- along with those of Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM), and other big-boy chipmakers -- fell yesterday as market makers in this capital-intensive industry digested and regurgitated the Fed's latest interest-rate tea leaves.
Near-term prospects aside, though, Texas Instruments appears well-positioned to deliver the goods. The firm's calculator sales, which represent just a small fraction of its overall business, typically heat up in advance of the back-to-school season. And Texas Instruments is the dominant player in the chips-for-cell-phones business, a growing market that, as the company tells it, has finally eaten through its backlog of inventory.
So should you mess with Texas?
Good question. Despite a nice run-up this year, the stock still appears competitively priced, trading at a below-industry, trailing-12-month price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 25.
Intel looks even cheaper on a P/E basis, though, and once that 800-pound gorilla finishes digesting Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and returns to focusing on bananas, it may well -- stay with me here -- want a slice of Texas Instruments' phone-chip pie. And as was the case with Apple, Intel -- whose market cap is nearly four times that of Texas Instruments -- has a habit of getting what it wants.
If and when that happens, the company would have a tough time getting the monkey off its back. For now, though, Texas Instruments seems set on a glide path to a strong second quarter -- and, perhaps, beyond.
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Shannon Zimmerman, lead analyst of The Motley Fool's Champion Funds newsletter, s pecializes in mixed metaphors and doesn't own any of the securities mentioned above. The Motley Fool is investors writing for investors .
