CRUS vs TXN: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of November 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: CRUS is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CRUS and TXN share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CRUS and TXN exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Cirrus Logic, Inc. is a fabless semiconductor company based in Austin, Texas that designs low-power, high-precision analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits. Its two product families are audio (smart codecs, boosted amplifiers, haptic and sensing drivers) and high-performance mixed-signal, or HPMS (camera controllers, power converters, and battery and display-related silicon). Those chips ship primarily into smartphones, with a growing presence in laptops, tablets, and AR/VR headsets. The company outsources fabrication and focuses on circuit design, software, and the tight co-engineering relationships that get a part designed into a flagship handset years before it ships.

Full CRUS guide

Texas Instruments (TI) is one of the largest analog semiconductor companies in the world. The vast majority of TI's revenue comes from analog and embedded processing chips: signal-chain semiconductors (op-amps, ADCs, DACs), power management ICs, and small microcontrollers. These are unglamorous compared to GPUs but are essential to nearly every electronic system: industrial equipment, automotive (a major end market), communications infrastructure, and consumer electronics.

Full TXN guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• CRUS drivers: Rising silicon content per smartphone; Laptop and PC diversification.
• TXN drivers: US-domestic manufacturing capacity expansion; Automotive and industrial as core growth markets.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Customer concentration is the dominant risk and it is extreme: Apple represented approximately 91% of fiscal 2026 net sales, so a design loss, a component redesign, or a shift in Apple's in-house silicon strategy could reset revenue in a single product cycle. For TXN, the massive US fab expansion compresses margins near-term and creates execution risk if demand doesn't materialize as expected; free cash flow of about $3.55 billion trails a dividend of about $6.08 per share, and debt has risen to about $14 billion.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CRUS if you believe its drivers more; TXN if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CRUS and TXN guides.

CRUS. Cirrus Logic trades near 13.5 times trailing and 12.4 times forward earnings despite gross margin above 50% and roughly $760 million of net cash, a gap the market generally attributes to Apple concentration. The stock slid about 21% over three months into mid-October 2026, through the Synaptics episode and a KeyBanc downgrade, and sits near the bottom of its ~$105 to ~$180 52-week range while the four-analyst mean target is about $165. The November 4, 2026 report (consensus ~$540 million revenue, $2.42 EPS) covers the iPhone build season.

TXN. TI's premium valuation reflects the quality of the analog business (sticky designs, long product lifecycles, high margins), the dividend growth track record, and now a strong cyclical recovery. Trailing earnings still include the weak 2025 quarters, so the ~43x trailing multiple overstates how expensive the stock is against the ~26x forward figure. Fab spending continues to hold free cash flow well below net income until the new capacity is absorbed.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): CRUS shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.05B; fiscal Q1 2027 ~$460M (+~13% YoY), net income (ttm) ~$431M, eps (ttm gaap / fq1 2027 non-gaap vs est.) ~$8.19 / $1.84 vs $1.81, margins (ttm) Gross ~52.8%, operating ~18.4%, net ~21%; TXN shows revenue (ttm) ~$19.5 billion (+~23% YoY in Q2 2026), operating margin ~43%, net income (ttm) ~$6.0 billion, eps (ttm / 2027 est.) ~$6.57 / ~$10.18.

CRUS and TXN are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CRUS and TXN exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.