Texas Instruments Blames Earthquake for Weak 1Q Results

Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) revealed late Monday a slightly improved first-quarter profit, though both its earnings and second-quarter outlook fell short of estimates, led by uncertainty in Japan as the company struggles to repair its facilities and rebound from the catastrophe.

The Dallas-based company posted net income of $666 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with $658 million, or 52 cents a share, in the same quarter last year, missing the Street’s view of 58 cents.

Attributing the loss to the March 11 earthquake in Japan that led to charges of $30 million, Texas Instruments said its operating profit slipped 4% to $908 million. Two of its manufacturing facilities in Japan were injured during the nation’s largest earthquake on record.

Revenue for the chip maker was $3.39 billion, up 6% from $3.2 billion a year ago, narrowly below average analyst estimates polled by Thomson Reuters of $3.4 billion.

Heading the sales was its analog and embedded processing divisions, which widened 12% and 21%, respectively, to $1.5 billion and $533 million. Wireless revenues fell 8% from the year-earlier period to $717 million, and total orders slipped 2% to $3.58 billion.

Blaming the earthquake for its weak second-quarter outlook, the company said it sees revenue in the range of $3.41 billion to $3.69 billion on earnings between 52 cents and 60 cents. Analysts on average are looking for revenue of $3.52 billion.

Texas Instruments said it remains unclear when the supply of the silicon and wafers it uses will return to normal.