TSC Ratings' Updates: Texas Instruments

Net operating cash flow has decreased to $19.6 million, or 44.7%, when compared with the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing the cash generation rate with the industry average, the firm's growth is significantly lower. Zenith had been rated a buy since July 26, 2006.

Also seeing a downgrade to hold from buy was Dow Chemical(DOW Quote). DOW is a manufacturer of chemicals, plastics, materials, agriculture and other specialized products. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed -- some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks.

The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenue rose by 23.5%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.

Despite currently having a low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, it is higher than that of the industry average, inferring that management of debt levels may need to be evaluated further. Regardless of the somewhat mixed results with the debt-to-equity ratio, the company's quick ratio of 0.94 is weak.

The gross profit margin for Dow Chemical is currently extremely low, coming in at 13.6%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 4.7% trails that of the industry average.

The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has underperformed when compared with that of the S&P 500 and greatly underperformed compared with the chemicals industry average. The net income has significantly decreased by 26.7% when compared with the same quarter one year ago, falling from $1.039 billion to $762 million. Dow Chemical had been rated a buy as of July 24, 2006.