Message #5711 from etchmeister at 4/11/2008 11:06:51 PM
January to March 2008 is up 34.5% - LOL
Oh yeah ... THE market - 0h WHAT market
tsmc.com
LOL...this market sucks and it is slow like melase..
TSMC Q1 seen strong; UMC and Chartered weaker
Reuters
EE Times
(04/24/2008 4:30 AM EDT)
TAIPEI, April 24 - Top contract chip maker TSMC is likely to post stronger quarterly profits than a year ago on rising sales of chips for PCs and consumer gadgets, but rivals UMC and Chartered Semiconductor will see weaker results on slower orders from major clients.
The results from the world's three biggest foundries could fall from the previous quarter as weakness in the global economy this year weighed on chip sales, and a stronger Taiwan dollar squeezed margins at TSMC and UMC.
(See below for table of forecasts)
Although PC and gadget sales are expected to be typically slower in the first half, some analysts say new computers and feature-jammed mobile phones could fly off the shelves in the second half, spurring fresh demand for the chips that go in them.
"Many PC brands will be launching new models and we also have high hopes on new applications in the 3G mobile phone market," said Nigel Lee, who manages T$750 million ($25 million) for Taiwan's National Investment Trust.
In his current portfolios, Lee owns shares of TSMC, which has greater economies of scale and a wider customer base than UMC and Chartered, whose first quarter could be hurt by falling orders from a clients such as Advanced Micro Devices
As a Christmas buying spree ended, TSMC's first-quarter sales dropped 7 percent from October-December, while those at UMC fell 13 percent. Their second-quarter sales would be flat sequentially, according to Reuters Estimates.
Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor has been hit by slower orders from AMD and Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 video game console, as Intel Corp has been gaining market share at AMD's expense, while demand for the Xbox has been hurt partly by stiff competition from Nintendo's Wii.
"The second quarter is expected to remain muted, as industry-wide, we're expecting quite a bit of weakness," said Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Pranab Sarmah. "Customers remain pretty cautious about replenishing their inventory."
But the outlook for Chartered should brighten in the second half as it takes on a wider mix of customers, said Macquarie Securities analyst Patrick Yau.
Investors had largely priced in a weak first quarter and were convinced of an upcoming recovery.
TSMC's Taipei-listed shares have risen 29 percent since a trough in late January, outpacing the main TAIEX's 21 percent gain. UMC shares were up 8 percent in the same period.
Credit Suisse put an "outperform" rating on TSMC and set a target share price of T$74, based on a price/book ratio of 3.7 times. That represents about a 16 percent upside from TSMC's Thursday close. Its UMC target price is T$22, 18 percent higher than the current level.
Q1 PROFIT FORECASTS AND SHARE PERFORMANCE
Net profit Change (%) Shr performance
Y/Y Q/Q Jan-Mar 2008 (%) TSMC T$27,113 mln +43.9 -21.4 +1.8 UMC T$340 mln -76.7 -75.0 -7.2 Chartered US$3.24 mln -38.9 -5.3 -25 (Additional reporting by Jennifer Tan in SINGAPORE, editing by Louise Heavens) (US$1=T$30.3) |
