Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s top customized chipmaker, yesterday posted 4.3 percent lower sales for last month, ending five consecutive months of sales growth.
But Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams said the chipmaker was still on track to hit the high end of TSMC’s revenue forecast of between NT$88 billion (US$2.7 billion) and NT$90 billion for this quarter.
Last month, TSMC sales totaled NT$29.83 billion, down 4.3 percent month-on-month, or 6.34 percent year-on-year, bringing total sales in the first two months of the third quarter to NT$61 billion.
“This result was below our flat expectation and [lower than] post-bubble historical seasonality for 3 percent month-on-month growth in August ... The company will still reach the top end of guidance ... as we believe shipment trends are holding stable and tight through September,” Abrams said in a report yesterday.
Growth would continue across the board, led by PCs, followed by communications and finally consumer electronics, he said.
“We would still be buyers” despite the “softer August sales results,” he said.
Abrams reiterated his “outperform” rating on TSMC, with his target price unchanged at NT$67.
Yesterday, Deutsche Securities Asia Ltd analyst Michael Chou (周立中) raised the target price for TSMC shares from NT$73 to NT$82 in expectation that TSMC would benefit from outsourcing by integrated device manufacturers, which are expected to shut down more plants later this year. TSMC tops Chou’s buy list.
Partly for the same reason, Chou raised his forecast for TSMC’s earnings this year from NT$82.52 billion to NT$90.96 billion. He raised his earnings forecast by 27 percent and 24 percent for next year and 2011 to NT$141 billion and NT$172.21 billion respectively.
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