Despite revenue declining, TI's core businesses are growing, and the company's results came in well ahead of analyst expectations.
What: Shares of Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) surged on Thursday following the company's third-quarter earnings report. While revenue declined compared to the same period last year, the company managed to soundly beat analyst estimates for both revenue and earnings. At 12:30 p.m. Thursday, the stock was up about 10%.
So what: Texas Instruments reported quarterly revenue of $3.43 billion, down 2% year-over-year but $150 million higher than analysts were expecting. The company pointed to weak overall demand for its products as the reason for the decline, but also stated that revenue was stronger than initially expected. The core businesses of Analog and Embedded Processing, which together accounted for 85% of third-quarter revenue, both grew by 2% year-over-year, while non-core businesses suffered a 19% year-over-year revenue decline.
The company reported earnings of $0.76 per share, flat compared to the same period last year and $0.08 better than analysts were expecting. Net income declined by 3.4% year-over-year, but share buybacks helped boost per-share numbers. During the third quarter, the company spent $790 million on share buybacks.
Now what: Texas Instruments expects both revenue and earnings to decline during the fourth quarter. The company guided for revenue between $3.07 billion and $3.33 billion, mostly below the $3.27 billion of revenue the company reported during the fourth quarter of 2014. EPS is expected to come in between $0.64 and $0.74, down from $0.77. Despite the expected decline, the company's guidance was above the consensus analyst estimates.
The most important part of Texas Instruments' results may be the growth in its core businesses, and this is likely a major reason why investors sent the stock soaring. With the company struggling to grow revenue overall, the Analog and Embedded Processing businesses held up a lot better than both analysts and investors were expecting. All things considered, Texas Instruments managed a decent quarter despite weak demand for its products.