Texas Instruments bucks five quarters of sales declines

The semiconductor industry may be turning the corner. After Intel (INTC) announced better-than-expected earnings, Dallas-based Texas Instruments (TXN) has also come out with results that beat analysts' expectations and show an improvement over the prior quarter. While the results are still significantly worse than its performance one year ago, an improving trend is welcome, after five quarters of sales declines.

After the markets closed today, Texas Instruments announced second-quarter net income of $260 million -- 20 cents per share -- on revenue of $2.46 billion. Earnings fell 56 percent from the same period a year ago. Revenue was down 27 percent from the second quarter one year ago but was up 18 percent from the first quarter. Chief executive Rich Templeton said that for the first time in two quarters, the numbers reflected actual demand, rather than inventory corrections.