Texas Instruments Sees Charge From Tax Law

Texas Instruments Inc. saw revenue increase in its fourth quarter but a charge related to the new tax law cut into short-term earnings.

The company said earnings in its fourth quarter were reduced by a $730 million discrete tax item related to the tax law.

Still, the company said the tax law would reduce its annual tax rate to 18% in 2019 from 31% in 2017 and would help show the "benefit of exports and having manufacturing, R&D and intellectual property in the United States."

For the first quarter, TI expects revenue of $3.49 billion to $3.79 billion, in line with the $3.63 billion analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected. The company expects earnings per share between $1.01 and $1.17, including a $30 million tax benefit.

During the latest quarter, sales of analog chips, which are the largest contributor to the top line, rose 11% to $2.54 billion, while sales of embedded processors climbed 20% to $896 million.

In all for the December quarter, TI reported a profit of $344 million, or 34 cents a share, down from $1.05 billion, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier.

The company said earnings were hit by the 75-cent charge, putting the company in line with the $1.09 in earnings per share that anlyasts were looking for.

Revenue rose 9.8% to $3.75 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $3.74 billion.

Shares, which have risen 58% in the last twelve months, slipped 5.3% in post-market trading to $113.78.

Write to Austen Hufford at Austen.Hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2018 16:57 ET (21:57 GMT)