Texas Instruments posted a higher fourth-quarter profit and gave an outlook that reassured investors who were worried the weak U.S. economy would hurt demand for its wireless and analog chips.
Shares in the company rose 2.4 percent.
TI, a developer of chips for everything from televisions to industrial products, said its quarterly profit rose to $756 million, or 54 cents a share, from $668 million, or 45 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding a tax benefit, earnings per share were 53 cents, beating the average market forecast of 52 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose 3 percent to $3.56 billion, compared to the average analysts' forecast of $3.58 billion. TI in December had estimated fourth-quarter earnings per share of 50 cents to 54 cents on revenue of $3.5 billion to $3.66 billion.
TI forecast first-quarter earnings of 43 cents to 49 cents a share, on revenue of $3.27 billion to $3.55 billion.
Analysts on average had been expecting first-quarter earnings of 45 cents per share on revenue of $3.41 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
"The outlook was in line from a topline perspective. Revenue (in the fourth quarter) was in line, the gross margin was better than expected, and that's providing about a penny upside to consensus," said John Dryden, analyst at Charter Equity Research.
Shares rose to $29.68 in after-hours trading after closing at $28.98 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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