US Markets
U.S. stocks were down on Wednesday morning, with investors' eyes on the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) January monetary policy meeting. The Dow fell 1.07% to 30,604, the S&P 500 index lost 1.27% to 3,800 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.92% to 13,500.
Gainers
• Lumen Technologies Inc (LUMN, Financial) +13%
• Iron Mountain Inc (IRM, Financial) +9.6%
• Clorox Co (CLX, Financial) +6.5%
• Campbell Soup Co (CPB, Financial) +6%
• General Dynamics Corp (GD, Financial) +4.5%
Losers
• L Brands Inc (LB, Financial) -6.7%
• Advance Auto Parts Inc (AAP, Financial) -6.4%
• Rollins Inc (ROL, Financial) -6.4%
• Gap Inc (GPS, Financial) -6.3%
• Anthem Inc (ANTM, Financial) -6.1%
Global Markets
The main European stock markets traded in the green. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 retreated 1.27%, Germany's Dax dipped 1.64%, France's CAC 40 lost 1.15%, and Spain's Ibex 35 was down 1.52%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.31%, India's BSE Sensex slid 1.94%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 0.32% and China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.11%.
Texas Instruments releases earnings report
Shares of Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN, Financial) fell more than 3.5% on Wednesday morning after the company announced financial results for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. It posted earnings per share of $1.80, beating analysts' estimates by 47 cents, on revenue of $4.08 billion, which grew 21.8% year-over-year and beat expectations by $470 million.
CEO Rich Templeton had the following to say:
"Revenue increased 7% sequentially, driven by strong demand in automotive, personal electronics and industrial markets. Revenue increased 22% from the same quarter a year ago."
In the quarter, Analog revenue rose 9% and Embedded Processing grew 11% sequentially, or 25% and 14% year-over-year, respectively.
The cash flow from operations was $6.1 billion and the free cash flow for the year was $5.5 billion, reflecting the efficiency of the manufacturing strategy, including the benefit of 300-millimeter Analog production.
The company returned $6.0 billion to shareholders during the year through dividends and stock repurchases. For the year, the dividend represented 62% of free cash flow.
Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2021, the company expects revenue in the range of $3.79 billion to $4.11 billion and earnings per share in the range of $1.44 to $1.66.
Texas Instruments shares have retreated almost 1.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 2.4%.
At the end of December, the T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio) reduced its investment in the stock by 13% to 1,090,000 shares.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
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