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Chi Mei posts record revenues

In a statement posted on its Web site yesterday, Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO, 奇美電子), the world's fourth-largest LCD maker, reported record-high revenues of NT$301.7 billion (US$9.4 billion) last year.

With analysts predicting the global panels industry would grow this year, another good year is expected for the company.

Jun Liao (廖景濬), an analyst at Polaris Securities Co (寶來證券), said yesterday he was upbeat about CMO's growth this year.

"First-quarter panel unit prices have not dropped as much as the 10 percent to 12 percent we had anticipated," Liao said. "It now looks like prices will drop by about 5 percent, which should bode well for manufacturers. Unit prices should stabilize in March and CMO looks set to achieve the highest shipment among panel producers this year."

Despite a 5.9 percent and 13.8 percent decline in month-on-month revenues in November and last month respectively, CMO's fourth-quarter earnings grew 19 percent from the third quarter to NT$104.9 billion, contributing to the record annual revenue of NT$301.7 billion, with 52 million units shipped, the company's financial statement showed.

Year-on-year, CMO saw revenues and total shipments rose by close to 60 percent last year, CMO president Ho Jau-yang (何昭陽) said at the company's year-end party on Saturday.

In the second quarter of this year, a new 6G production line is expected to come online in the second quarter of this year and will be followed by a 7.5G production plant, which should propel CMO to another technological level, he said.

Research company IDC said that audio/video and multimedia performance would be the main attraction fo LCD PC monitors this year, with 19-inch monitors being the mainstream choice for consumers and 22-inch monitors experiencing a sharp increase in popularity.

The line between small LCD TVs and large LCD monitors will also continue to blur, IDC said.

Ho was confident about the prospects for the panel industry this year, pointing to the popularity of LCD TVs above 40 inches. LCD TV panels now account for 50 percent of CMO output, more than its IT products.

Based on the favorable conditions it faces this year and in the wake of a strong performance last year, CMO shares are undervalued, Liao said.

"The poor outlook for the US economy and its recent stock market crashes [sic], coupled with the traditionally slow first quarter and sluggish Taiwan electronic shares, have all contributed to the price of CMO stocks at the moment," he said.

CMO shares have fallen from NT$43.95 at the beginning of this year to a low of NT$39.90 on Wednesday, before climbing back slightly to close at NT$41.80 on Friday.
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