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Phone helps HTC stock rally to reach a two-week high

The stock price of HTC Corp (宏達電) rallied to a two-week high yesterday on expectation that the sale of its third Google phone will help the company boost its third-quarter revenues faster on the back of better features than rival Apple Inc’s new iPhone.

HTC shares rose 1.56 percent to NT$455 yesterday, their highest level since June 11 as the new product launch seemed to ease recent worries that intensifying competition from big handset brands like Palm could weaken HTC’s growth.

“Aside from the unexpected multi-touch feature, HTC’s new Android phone also comes with the extraordinary ability of handling video playing on flash technology, a feature most smartphones including Apple’s new iPhone 3GS lack,” said Lu Chia-lin (呂家霖), an analyst with Macquarie Securities’ Taipei branch.

“Those better specifications will certainly bring a positive impact [on shipments],” Lu said.

HTC unveiled its third mobile phone running the Android system on Wednesday night in London. The new phone, the HTC Hero, is a follow-up to its Magic from earlier this year and Dream, the world’s first Android phone, last year.

With the launch of Dream, HTC, the world’s biggest maker of cellular phones on Microsoft Corp’s Windows system, successfully diversified into making phones running on the open system, Android, supported by Google.

The HTC Hero is set to hit European markets from next month and would be available in Asia later in the summer, HTC said. A distinct North American version will be available later this year, it said.

“It also surprises me that T-Mobile will also snap up the HTC Hero soon, joining Orange,” Lu said.

Orange is a key brand of France Telecom Group.

Lu yesterday raised his revenues forecast for HTC saying they may grow 17 percent rather than by the original forecast of 15 percent, to around NT$45.6 billion (US$1.38 billion) in the third quarter from an estimate of NT$39 billion in the second quarter.

HTC is one of Macquarie’s top picks in the mainstream and smartphone area. Lu yesterday retained the target price for HTC at NT$610.

He also reiterated his “outperform” rating on HTC.
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