Creative up, unaffected by Compaq
biz.yahoo.com
SINGAPORE, March 9 (Reuters) - Multimedia firm Creative Technology (CREA.SI) (CREAF - news) led the gainers Monday morning, unscathed by Compaq Computer Corp's (CPQ - news) warnings of weaker first quarter earnings, dealers and analysts said.
At 0300 GMT, Creative shares were up Singapore $1.50 at S$36.50 on 27,650 shares.
Late Friday, Compaq, the world's biggest personal computer (PC) maker, said weak demand and plunging prices would cause its first quarter earnings to be below Wall Street's expectations.
Compaq's profit warning, hot on the heels of Intel Corp's (INTC - news) on Wednesday, jolted high-tech stocks on Wall Street. ''A large bulk of Creative's earnings do not rely on new PCs. The group is doing well in all of its four major categories,'' said Russell Tan, research analyst at DBS Securities.
Tan said Creative's new 3D Blaster Voodoo 2 graphic cards, speakers, soundcards and Digital Video Disks (DVD) have all been well-received and getting good reviews from the industry.
Elsewhere in the electronics sector, some stocks were slightly off as sentiment became a little jittery, analysts said.
Contract manufacturer NatSteel Electronics (NASL.SI) fell S$0.11 to S$2.58 at 0321 GMT, on 1.8 million shares, including 1.6 million shares crossed at various prices.
But dealers attributed the bulk of the falls to profit-taking after the group reported a strong set of 1997 results, with net profit more than doubling to S$36.09 million.
''It is down on profit-taking as people sell on news. Fundamentally, it is a good stock with good growth and is relatively protected,'' said a dealer with a local house.
Analysts remained positive on Natsteel Electronics as its business was diversified.
Last Tuesday, NatSteel Electronics' chariman Ang Kong Hua said he was hopeful the group could grow at a similar rate to the industry's estimated 30 percent a year. |
