Texas Instruments Inc forecast unexpectedly low fourth-quarter revenue, underscoring concerns about spotty demand for chips for cars, appliances, computers and industrial products and sending its shares lower. Demand for chips used in cars and communications infrastructure had improved in the third quarter, helping make up for a drop in revenue as TI wound down its unprofitable wireless business.
"It looks like those segments now are decelerating," said Williams Financial analyst Cody Acree. "It's possible that the pace set earlier this year has left customers with a bit more inventory and that customers are being cautious managing their inventories heading into the end of year." TI Chief Financial Officer Kevin March said in an interview on Monday that his expectations of a quarter-over-quarter decline in revenue were based on normal holiday seasonality in those segments. Analysts differ in what they consider to be normal seasonal variations in demand. "We don't see anything that suggests to us anything other than a normal fourth quarter shaping up," he said.