UMC (2303) closed @ 62.50 +4.00 vol 111,940,361 2ndmost active
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oct 23 net purchase 8,252m shares
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TAIWAN WEIGHTED closed @ 5918.63 +237.68 (+4.18%)
Day's Range :5645.05 - 5933.42
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Taipei, Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwanese stocks rose, led by United Microelectronics Corp., as the customized chipmaker's sevenfold increase in third-quarter profit suggests its stock decline of as much as 24 percent this month was overdone.
The TWSE Index rose 237.68, or 4.2 percent, to 5,918.63, a two-week high. In the last four days, the index gained 16 percent, its biggest gain over that period in more than nine years
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UMC surprised the market with its superb 3Q00 results and renewed its 2000 financial target on Oct 23 because:1) Sales in 3Q00 were NT$29.5bn, up 20.6% qoq. Gross profits reached NT$NT$15.3bn, up 29.5% qoq. Gross margin was 52.0%, up from 48.5% in 2Q00. 2) Revised financial forecasts (original forecasts): Sales NT$105.5bn (NT$88.0bn), up 19.9%. Gross profits NT$52.7bn (NT$35.9bn), up 46.7%. Gross margin 49.9%, up from 40.8% original forecast. Net income NT$50.0bn (NT$30.0bn), up 66.6%. 3) Sales breakdown by application: computer, communication, consumer, and others for 3Q00 were 37%, 36%, 25%, and 2%, respectively. 2Q00 figures were 41%, 35%, 21%, and 3%, respectively. 4) Sales breakdown by technology: 0.18u, 0.25u, 0.35u, 0.5u, >0.5u for 3Q00 were 12%, 36%, 35%, 12%, and 5%, respectively. For 2Q00 they were 12%, 29%, 42%, 11%, and 6%, respectively.5) Sales breakdown by device type: DRAM, SRAM, NVM, logic/mixed mode for 3Q00 were 12%, 6%, 9%, respectively. For 2Q00 9%, 9%, 16%, 66% 6) ASP: Around US$1480 in 3Q00, up from US$1380 in 2Q00 and US$1240 in 1Q00. 7) UMC’s chairman John Hsuan believes that 1Q01 will be a better season than 3Q00 as demand from FPGA, xDSL, DSP and flash memory sectors remains strong. 8) Orders from Japanese customers remain robust. NFI, which UMC owns 47% of and is operating an 8-inch fab in Japan, reported JPY4.6bn net profits in 3Q00, up from JPY2.4bn net profits in 2Q00 and JPY3.0bn net loss in 3Q99. |
