Global television sales are poised to grow 6 percent this year, or lower than forecast, reflecting lower-than-expected demand for liquid crystal displays (LCDs), market researcher iSuppli Corp said in a quarterly report.
Global TV shipments will rise to 168 million units this year, compared with 173 million units projected in a forecast three months ago, El Segundo, California-based iSuppli said.
The forecast for this year's LCD TV shipments was cut 1 percent to 8.6 million units. For glass-tube TVs, shipments will shrink 0.8 percent this year, according to iSuppli, which earlier forecast a 3.5 percent rise.
The revised forecasts suggest makers of LCD TVs, which are more expensive than comparable plasma or glass-tube sets, will have to cut prices for demand to meet earlier shipment targets.
Shares of the top seven LCD-related shares have fallen 12 percent in the last month after analysts such as Deutsche Bank AG's Fumiaki Sato said LCD TV demand is poised to slow in the second half of the year.
"Prices of LCD TVs were very high and that hindered the consumer uptake," said Riddhi Patel, senior analyst at iSuppli.
Separately, concern over falling prices of LCDs are exaggerated, creating what may be a "great" opportunity for LCD-related stocks, said Ross Young, president of market researcher DisplaySearch.
Average selling prices of LCDs for televisions will be flat or fall as much as 10 percent during the final two quarters of the year, Young said in an e-mail interview.
By comparison, Samsung Electronics Co, the world's largest LCD maker, said in April that prices of LCD TVs measuring more than 30 inches diagonally would fall about 30 percent this year.
* TV shipments will reach 168 million units, not the 173 million units projected in a forecast three months ago
* LCD TVs will account for 8.6 million units, a drop of 1 percent
* Glass-tube TV shipments will shrink 0.8 percent, compared with a 3.5 percent rise forecast earlier
Shares of Samsung Electronics and its six biggest rivals have fallen an average of 16 percent in the past month, compared with a 2.8 percent gain by the Morgan Stanley World/Information Technology Index.
"Investors are over-estimating the amount of the price declines,"Young said.
"It represents a great buying opportunity" if investors sold LCD shares on concern prices may fall 30 percent, he said.
Austin, Texas-based DisplaySearch, which earlier this month raised its forecast for LCD sales this year by 13 percent, might provide more detailed price forecasts later this week after compiling this month's figures, Young said.
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