NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Texas Instruments reported sales that were slightly ahead of expectations and earnings per share that were in line with analysts' expectations, excluding one-time gains and charges.

TI, (up $0.84 to $27.84, Charts) which is the nation's largest supplier of chips for cell phones, reported net income of $2.4 billion, or $1.50 per share, including a one-time gain from the sale of its sensors and control business, as well as other one-time gains and charges.

Excluding one-time items, TI reported earnings of 47 cents a share, up 34 percent from a year ago, thanks to strong demand for semiconductors for cell phones and back-to-school demand for its graphing calculators. TI's biggest customer, Finnish cell phone giant Nokia, last week reported a spike in its second quarter sales and profits.

Shares of TI rose about 1.3 percent in after-hours trading.

"I thought overall it was a pretty good report," said Daniel Morgan, portfolio manager with Synovus Investment Advisors, which holds shares of TI in its portfolios. "You could say the midpoint of guidance is below consensus, but it builds room for them to come back later and raise guidance."

For the current quarter, TI said it expects revenue in the range of $3.63 billion to $3.95 billion. The mid-point of that range, $3.79 billion, fell shy of analysts' expectations of $3.82 billion.

TI said it expects earnings per share of $0.42 to $0.48 for the quarter. The mid-point of that range is in line with analysts' expectations of 45 cents a share.

"The fact that TI is up a dollar after-hours on what is basically an in-line report is telling that we were building in very conservative expectations" for the report, said Cody Acree, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus.

"[TI] didn't talk of inventory excesses, and there was no reason for the numbers to come down dramatically, so the stock is up because of people who were betting on the miss," he added. "It just goes to show how pessimistic the Street has gotten given how badly [semiconductor] stocks have performed, and how many have blown up recently."

Morgan of Synovus said he is satisfied with the company's current inventory levels, which he points out increased less than revenue from the first quarter to the second.

The company reported revenue of $3.7 billion, including $70 million from a royalty settlement. Sales rose 24 percent from the year ago quarter, coming in slightly above analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion.

"This was another excellent quarter for Texas Instruments," Rich Templeton, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "All regions of the world showed strong revenue growth from a year ago."

Revenue from TI's semiconductor segment came in at $3.51 billion, up 26 percent from the year-ago quarter primarily due to demand for the company's digital signal processors, which translate sounds and images into digital bits, as well as for its analog products.

Revenue for wireless semiconductors grew 27 percent, including more than 70 percent growth in 3G, or chips for third-generation cell phones. Revenue from high-performance analog processors grew 32 percent, while revenue in the company's DLP technology segment, which makes chips for flat-screen TVs, grew 34 percent.

TI also posted sales of $192 million in its education segment, which makes graphing calculators, a 6 percent increase from the year-ago quarter.

For the quarter, TI's total gross profit was $1.91 billion, or 51.6 percent of revenue. That's an increase of $481 million from the year-ago quarter, reflecting higher revenue, according to the company.

Acree does not own shares of Texas Instruments, and his firm has no banking ties to the company.

Related: