Benzinga | Jul 22, 2021 09:52AM EDT

Analysts Remain Divided Over Texas Instruments' Prospects

* Raymond James analyst Christopher Caso raised the price target on Texas Instruments Inc (NASDAQ: TXN) to $230 from $220, implying an 18.41% upside, and maintained an Outperform rating.

* Caso termed the Q2 results puzzling and the guidance meaningless.

* Texas has guided revenue flat to down Q/Q for the last three quarters yet has significantly beat guidance each time.

* He feels management likely suffers from a lack of confidence at the macro level, despite the tight supply conditions at both the company and the semi-industry at large.

* Summit Insights analyst Kinngai Chan downgraded Texas to Hold from Buy without a price target.

* Chan believes the company's Q3 outlook reflects some demand uncertainty in the PC and the smartphone markets.

* Additionally, industry checks suggest that many industrial customers have been overstocking due to supply crisis concerns.

* Chan estimates some channel inventory digestion in Q4 as pandemic demand tailwinds normalize.

* Jefferies analyst Mark Lipacis opted to buy the company's shares following the company's Q2 earnings report.

* The results were consistent with his recent channel checks that pointed to stretching lead times, robust demand, higher restocking requirements, and pricing power.

* Lipacis views its Q3 outlook as conservative, noting that the company has beat its revenue and EPS outlook by 10% and 19% at the median, respectively, over the past six quarters.

* Price action: TXN shares traded lower by 4.80% at $184.92 in the market session on the last check Thursday.