*from www.bloomberg.com, April 8, 2013 (To view original article click here.)
Take Away #1: HTC Corp., Taiwan’s largest smartphone maker, posted its lowest quarterly profit on record after the delay of its newest flagship phone caused revenue to miss the company’s target.
Key Facts and Figures:
- First-quarter profit plunged 98% to NT$85 million ($2.8 million) the sixth straight decline.
- The average of 19 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for profit of $NT$600 million.
- HTC lost early momentum for its HTC One handset in February as a shortage of camera components forced it to delay shipments to key markets by as much as a month.
Take Away #2: Prospects for revenue to rebound this quarter may be limited as the new device becomes widely available less than a month before Samsung Electronics Co.’s new Galaxy S4.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Samsung’s Galaxy S4 goes on sale in the U.S. on April 26.
- “For smartphones, timing is everything and the delay means they lose that timing,” said Dennis Chan at Yuanta Securities Co.
- First quarter revenue fell 37% from a year earlier to NT$42.8 billion, less than the NT$54.7 billion average of 19 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Take Away #3: CEO Peter Chou is betting on HTC One to revive fortunes at a company that’s lost more than 70% of its market value since a peak two years ago.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Operating profit, or income from its core business of making and selling mobile devices, fell 99% to NT$43 million.
- Operating margin was 0.1%, missing HTC’s forecast for 0.5% to 1%.
- Only three of 33 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg recommend buying the stock, while 20 recommend selling it.
- Delay in shipments of the HTC One was caused by less-than-expected manufacturing capacity for the device’s camera, said HTC marketing chief Benjamin Ho on March 25.
- Production volume for the components will continue to rise through the end of April, Ho said at the time.
Take Away #4: Resolution of production problems and Facebook Inc.’s introduction of HTC First provides an opportunity for revenue to climb this quarter.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Delay in shipments of the HTC One was caused by less-than-expected manufacturing capacity for the device’s camera, said HTC marketing chief Benjamin Ho on March 25.
- Production volume for the components will continue to rise through the end of April, Ho said at the time.
- Last week, Facebook introduced HTC First, a handset which debuts its Home software that features the social networking site on the device’s home screen.
- Ho, who was appointed in January, said last month he plans to boost spending and refresh the brand, after its global market standing dropped.
- Successive versions of Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy, and growing competition from ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. cut its share of smartphone shipments.
- HTC’s share of smartphone shipments were cut to 3.1% in the fourth quarter from 10.3% in the third quarter of 2011, according to Bloomberg Industries.
- HTC dropped 2.2% to lose at NT$241 in Taipei yesterday before the earnings announcement.
- The drop took its decline this year to 20% and trails the benchmark Taiex Index’s 0.7% advance.
Take Away #5: Founded in 1997, HTC hasn’t posted a loss since it listed in March 2002.
Key Facts and Figures:
- Two of 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg before yesterday’s earnings announcement forecast a net loss for the first quarter.
*To view original article from www.bloomberg.com click here.