Rising Regulatory Hurdles And US-China Tensions Will Squeeze Profits

Key Takeaways

• Mounting competition, regulatory pressures, and maturing core markets threaten growth, margins, and simplicity of operations.
  
• Rising capital expenditures for compliance and capacity risk margin compression and restrained cash flow over time.
  
• Broad cyclical recovery, domestic manufacturing expansion, and favorable tax policies position Texas Instruments for resilient growth, supply chain strength, and enhanced shareholder returns amid robust demand.

Catalysts

Designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers in the United States, China, rest of Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Japan, and internationally.

• Texas Instruments' heavy reliance on the analog and embedded processing markets exposes the company to risk of persistent pricing pressure and slower growth as these segments mature, which could compress gross margins and lead to lower long-term earnings growth.
  
• Escalating regulatory scrutiny and the potential for renewed trade restrictions, especially between the U.S. and China, threaten to restrict access to key international markets and add uncertainty to global supply chains, placing downward pressure on revenue growth and increasing operational complexity.
  
• Intensifying competition from Asian semiconductor manufacturers with structurally lower cost bases could erode Texas Instruments' market share in both industrial and automotive sectors, limiting future revenue expansion even as global end-demand recovers.
  
• Ongoing industry-wide wafer fab expansions raise the risk of future oversupply cycles; coupled with Texas Instruments' rising inventory levels and continued high capital expenditures, this increases the likelihood of lower capacity utilization rates and margin compression through the next industry downturn.
  
• The acceleration of sustainability and environmental requirements globally is likely to force Texas Instruments into higher capital expenditures for compliance and reporting, placing further pressure on net profit margins and constraining free cash flow over the long-term.

Texas Instruments Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• This narrative explores a more pessimistic perspective on Texas Instruments compared to the consensus, based on a Fair Value that aligns with the bearish cohort of analysts.
• The bearish analysts are assuming Texas Instruments's revenue will grow by 6.1% annually over the next 3 years.
• The bearish analysts assume that profit margins will shrink from 30.1% today to 29.1% in 3 years time.
• The bearish analysts expect earnings to reach $5.8 billion (and earnings per share of $6.38) by about July 2028, up from $5.0 billion today. The analysts are largely in agreement about this estimate.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the price target of the more bearish analyst cohort, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 27.8x on those 2028 earnings, down from 33.7x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the US Semiconductor industry at 30.9x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to decline by 0.44% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 9.74%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Texas Instruments Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Texas Instruments is seeing clear signs of broad-based cyclical recovery with 4 out of 5 core markets growing at a healthy pace, with particular strength in industrial, personal electronics, enterprise systems, and communications equipment, which has driven double-digit year-over-year revenue growth and could continue to support strong revenue performance.
  
• The company maintains robust manufacturing capabilities and increased internal inventory and capacity, ensuring it can flexibly support customer needs and quickly capture demand surges, which positions Texas Instruments for resilience and sustained gross margins across industry cycles.
  
• The expansion of domestic U.S. manufacturing and the completion of new capacity investments provide strategic advantages amid ongoing global supply chain realignment, and this could attract more Western customers seeking supply security, potentially leading to market share gains and supporting long-term revenue and free cash flow growth.
  
• Recent changes to U.S. tax law-including increased tax credits for R&D and capital expenditures and long-term reductions in cash tax rates-are expected to notably improve free cash flow generation over the next several years, enhancing Texas Instruments' potential for shareholder returns via dividends and buybacks as well as reinvestment in the business.
  
• The company's data center and enterprise exposures, especially with new products leveraging advanced manufacturing technology in Sherman, Texas, present large and growing addressable markets, offering the prospect of high-revenue opportunities and net margin tailwinds from increased socket wins and customer expansion, particularly as AI and cloud infrastructure investments continue to accelerate.

Valuation

• The assumed bearish price target for Texas Instruments is $136.1, which represents two standard deviations below the consensus price target of $202.58. This valuation is based on what can be assumed as the expectations of Texas Instruments's future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors from analysts on the more bearish end of the spectrum.
  
• However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $260.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $125.0.
  
• In order for you to agree with the bearish analysts, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $19.9 billion, earnings will come to $5.8 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 27.8x, assuming you use a discount rate of 9.7%.
  
• Given the current share price of $186.25, the bearish analyst price target of $136.1 is 36.9% lower. Despite analysts expecting the underlying buisness to improve, they seem to believe the market's expectations are too high.
  
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.