TI Hikes Guidance

Texas Instruments gave the tech sector some good news after the close on Wednesday, raising guidance to the high end of Wall Street estimates.

With a little more than three weeks to go in the quarter, TI said it now expects revenues of $3.56-$3.7 billion and earnings per share of 41-43 cents. The company’s revised guidance compares favorably to analysts’ expectations of 41-cent earnings and $3.61 billion in sales.

IT cited “strong demand across a broad range of its semiconductor products” for the strong showing. Wireless, DLP and high-performance analog are particularly strong, the company said on a conference call. TI also said it’s trying to build inventories to meet all the demand for its products.

The company’s shares climbed more than 1% in after-hours trading.

TI’s strong numbers are a good omen for Intel , which will deliver its mid-quarter update Thursday night.

Stocks got hit by profit-taking again on Wednesday. The selling accelerated after a man who claimed to be carrying a bomb was shot and killed at Miami International Airport, but the indexes finished off their worst levels of the day.

The Nasdaq lost 8 to 2252, the S&P 500 slumped 6 to 1257, and the Dow fell 46 to 10,810. Volume declined to 2.07 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.77 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 20-12 on the NYSE, and 18-11 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 64% on the NYSE, and 61% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 115-82 on the NYSE, and 106-47 on the Nasdaq.

Cisco gained 1.25% after an upbeat analyst meeting.

Shares of Comverse and Nuance jumped after beating estimates.

Ulticom and Verint fell on their results.

SigmaTel and Tibco slumped on downgrades.