DALLAS, TX - Texas Instruments has lowered its forecasts for first quarter revenue and profits due to lower than expected sales to its handset equipment customers.

The company said it expects revenue for the period ending March 31 would be $3.21 billion to $3.35 billion, slightly below its estimated $3.27 billion to $3.55 billion.

TI cites their wireless customers significantly reducing production as the reason for the lowered sales, according to Ron Slaymaker, VP and investment manager at the company.

However, the company has also stated that the drop in sales for has not extended to other products, and that sales of analog ICs are solid.

"The rest of our products are running in line with our expectations," Slaymaker said. "Whether wireless is indicating some bigger macro trend is difficult to say."

In the meantime, shares of Nokia stock lost more than 4.6%, retreating after TI warned of deteriorating conditions in the wireless industry.

Mark McKechnie, analyst at American Technology Research, said Nokia may be simply building inventory and not reacting to lowered demand. "Our talks with [the company] seem to confirm that Nokia may have been building some inventory of handsets to insure proper supply of its new products," he said.
 
Not all analysts agreed that Nokia was the primarily reason for TI’s lowered sales forecast.

"We have other customers also that haven't fully lived up to initial expectations that we had, but it is mostly a particular customer," said Slaymaker.

Analysts believe that the customer mentioned is Motorola, which reported lost more market share in the first quarter.

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