Texas Instruments 4Q net income falls 11 percent

DALLAS (AP) -- Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. said Tuesday that its net income fell 11 percent in the fourth quarter while revenue fell even more. Both results were slightly better than expectations.

Net income in the three months to Dec. 31 fell to $264 million, or 23 cents per share, from $298 million, or 25 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding a tax benefit of 15 cents per share that had not previously been included in its outlook, net income would have been 8 cents per share, slightly beating the 7 cents per share of net income expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue fell 13 percent to $2.98 billion, slightly ahead of the $2.95 billion expected by analysts.

Shares fell 16 cents to $33.30 in after-hours trading, following a decline of 6 cents to $33.46 in the regular session.

The company said it expects first-quarter earnings per share between 24 cents and 32 cents, which evenly brackets the 28 cents per share that analysts were looking for. Quarterly revenue is seen between $2.69 billion and $2.91 billion. The midpoint of the revenue guidance is below the $2.90 billion that analysts were expecting.

CEO Rich Templeton said in a statement the company continues "to operate in a weak demand environment" but that many customers had lean inventories, meaning that an uptick in demand could create better results quickly.

For the full year, Texas Instruments earned $1.76 billion, or $1.51 per share, on revenue of $12.83 billion.