NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) - Get Report shares are down 1.02% to $23.21 in trading on Tuesday after the company reported its February sales numbers earlier today.

The company reported a 33.8% increase in sales during the month over the previous year, bringing in $1.977 billion in revenue, but falling well short of the $2.75 billion the company earned in January. January's revenue was a 69.4% year-over-year increase from 2014.

Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's largest chip maker, was downgraded to "underperform" from "sector perform" by analysts at Pacific Crest yesterday.

"We are downgrading Taiwan Semiconductor due to: near-term risks from high customer inventory, peaking January sales and Qualcomm (QCOM) - Get Report share loss at Samsung [of South Korea]; potential Apple (AAPL) - Get Report manufacturing share loss to Samsung  (SSNLF) ; and slowing Moore's Law, depreciation burden and low yields on 16 nanometer (nm) FinFET [three-dimensional transistors] likely posing additional risks in 2016," said analysts.

TheStreet Ratings team rates TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MFG CO as a Buy with a ratings score of A+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MFG CO (TSM) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth and compelling growth in net income. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 10.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 34.5%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• Powered by its strong earnings growth of 80.00% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 33.00% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, TSM should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
• TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MFG CO reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MFG CO increased its bottom line by earning $1.61 versus $1.18 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.03 versus $1.61).
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry. The net income increased by 75.2% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $1,318.53 million to $2,309.57 million.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: TSM Ratings Report