Texas Instruments price target lowered to $284 from $298 at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI analyst Mark Lipacis lowered the firm’s price target on Texas Instruments (TXN) to $284 from $298 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. “No one in semis likes” a gross margin downtick, which TI’s outlook implies for Q1, but the firm remain buyers of TI post the Q4 EPS print, noting that Evercore models Q1 revenues of $4.1B, above the high-end of TI’s outlook of $3.74B-$4.06B. TI is shipping well below consumption and the firm’s channel checks “indicate positive inflections for the first time in 2 years,” the analyst tells investors.