Investors may consider adding shares in flat-panel makers to their long-term investment portfolio ahead of a run-up expected in August or September, market analysts said yesterday.
"Now is the time to buy flat-panel display shares for investors considering long-term equities investment," said Frank Wang (
Shares in liquid crystal display (LCD) makers are expected to tumble 10 percent within the next 30 to 45 days before stock prices of the flat-panel group pick up from their recent downward spiral in late August, or early September, due to clear industry visibility, Wang said.
A key factor that could bring down the share prices will be AU Optronics Corp's (
The top Taiwanese LCD maker plans to raise as much as US$847 million by selling additional American Depositary Receipts (ADR) in the third quarter, which coincides with the ADR issuance of its South Korean rival, LG.Philips LCD Co.
"It is worth noticing whether AU Optronics' proposed ADR issuance can divert American investors' interest from LG.Philips LCD by selling shares at a better price," Wang said.
On the TAIEX, AU Optronics dropped 3.6 percent to NT$54, while Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
AU Optronics shares fell 8 percent to NT$54 during the first 10 days of June, while Chi Mei Optoelectronics shares dropped 14 percent to NT$54.5 over the same period.
Wang, however, said he was still upbeat about the industry.
"Panel demand will be strong in the third quarter," he said.
Andy Yeh (
"For those investors looking for high returns, if they buy flat-panel stocks at this point, the risk will be much lower," Yeh said.
AU Optronics will be the first pick as the company has greater resistance to an expected price decline for big-sized screens for TVs in the second half of the year, he explained.
Throwing his support to the industry, Ross Young, president of the Austin, Texas-based DisplaySearch, said the demand-and-supply situation will be very healthy in the remainder of the year as supply constraint of key components will curb the growth of panel output.
"I did see some slowdown in June and July due to typical seasonal factors, but demand for screens for computers and TVs will be very strong for the rest of the year," Young said.
Commenting on the price trend of TV panels, Young said there is a lot of room for a price decline.
"But Sharp Corp's pricing strategy will be a determining factor for how big the drop will be, as the Japanese company will have to digest 4 million screens for TVs this year," he said.
DisplaySearch has projected that some 100 million TVs, which accounts for 6 percent of the total TV market, will convert to flat screens from heavy cathode-ray-tube sets this year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day