Citigroup analyst Kirk Yang (楊應超) suggested yesterday that investors consider switching from personal computer stocks into laggards such as mobile phone stocks on nascent signs of unusually sluggish demand in the fourth quarter.
Electronics makers Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) and China's laptop computer maker Lenovo (聯想) are top picks as they would benefit from consumer electronics such as iPhone and X-Box, Yang told a press briefing in Taipei yesterday.
Asustek will benefit from its new low-priced laptop computer, "Eee PC," which is set to hit stores next week, he said.
Handset component suppliers Silitech Technology Corp (閎暉) and Unimicron Technology Corp (新興電子) are good additions to an investment portfolio, he said, in place of PC maker Wistron Corp and computer motherboard supplier Microstar International Co (微星).
"We adjusted our investment strategies because we are seeing early signs of a weakening PC sector in the fourth quarter after the sector enjoyed three respectable quarters," Yang said.
That was despite a long-term positive view on the PC sector, Yang said, adding that "Overall, we are optimistic about 2008."
Global PC shipments would grow 14 percent year-on-year this year and 11 percent next year on corporate PC replacement demand, he said.
"Most companies that are attending the conference said they are quite bullish about long-term prospects, but they are conservative about the fourth quarter," Yang said, referring to the two-day investment conference Citigroup held in Taipei yesterday and today.
But, there was short-term risk.
"The fourth quarter will not be a peak season as it was, mostly because PC vendors do not have confidence in Christmas holiday sales this year partly because of lingering subprime credit problem in the US," Yang said.
Notebook computer shipment may increase by just 6 percent at quarter pace in the final quarter of the year, much slower than the six-year average of 22 percent, he said
"We are seeing growing shipments and handset companies are quite confident about holiday sales especially in emerging markets such as China and India," he said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last