To: Donald Wennerstrom who wrote (28195 ) 1/24/2006 7:47:14 PM From: etchmeister Respond to of 95622 Hi Don - this needs to be qualified and quantified: TI blamed the revenue shortfall on a shortage of assembly test equipment at its chip manufacturing facilities. This created a bottleneck that prevented the company from shipping as many chips as it had promised its customers, the company said. "If you look at what changed from the midquarter update in December, at that point we were planning on certain assembly expansion in test equipment that frankly we weren't able to get in on time," investor relations manager Ron Slaymaker told analysts during a conference call following the release of the financial results.The company has ordered more equipment to rectify the problem, but Slaymaker acknowledged that the constraints could continue to affect the company in the current quarter, particularly if demand does not slow down. I also like to refresh your memory about TI being CSFB's poster child on reducing capex (for equipment). Please see Bruce post. WS's attitude towards capex is frustrating. It's hardly viewed as a long and midterm means to improve revenue and profitability - no capex is viewed as a necessary evil that drags down margins for the next couple quarters. So once again we get that blah blah margin have peaked rahrah. Analyst hate steady growth combined with reduced up and down swings like the devil hates holy water. Top Line Light at TI By Alexei Oreskovic TheStreet.com Staff Reporter 1/23/2006 8:15 PM EST Click here for more stories by Alexei Oreskovic Updated from 5:23 p.m. EST Texas Instruments (TXN:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) beat the Street by a penny as fourth-quarter revenue jumped 14% on strength in the company's semiconductor division. Still, the top line was at the low end of the company's guidance, as manufacturing constraints caused TI to leave some money on the table. The Most Read Stories From TheStreet.com 1. Google Catches Cold 2. Intel: What Went Wrong 3. 10 Hot Techs That Aren't Apple or Google 4. Intel Takes Body Blow 5. Radio Calls Out to Google Sign Up Free The company said Monday that it earned $655 million in the fourth quarter, or 40 cents a share, including a 3 cents-a-share charge related to stock-option expensing. Sales were $3.59 billion, within the $3.56 billion to $3.71 billion range the company provided in its December guidance update, but below the $3.63 billion midpoint. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call projected $3.64 billion in fourth-quarter revenue with 39 cents EPS, including the option expense. TI blamed the revenue shortfall on a shortage of assembly test equipment at its chip manufacturing facilities. This created a bottleneck that prevented the company from shipping as many chips as it had promised its customers, the company said. "If you look at what changed from the midquarter update in December, at that point we were planning on certain assembly expansion in test equipment that frankly we weren't able to get in on time," investor relations manager Ron Slaymaker told analysts during a conference call following the release of the financial results. The company has ordered more equipment to rectify the problem, but Slaymaker acknowledged that the constraints could continue to affect the company in the current quarter, particularly if demand does not slow down. "We're going to have to keep working hard just to keep up," he said. Demand for the company's semiconductors was strong enough in the fourth quarter that TI saw revenue in the division increase 15% year over year, to $3.23 billion, even with the capacity constraints. Wireless and high-performance analog chips were the main engines of growth, as the consumer appetite for cell phones and electronics gadgets remained strong. Go to NEXT PAGE