Local smartphone component suppliers such as touch panel makers should be among the top picks for equity investment in the first half of next year, UBS Securities said yesterday.
The suggestion was based on UBS’ optimism about the local stock market and increasing uptake of smartphones around the world.
William Dong (董成康), managing director of UBS’s Taipei branch, expected a liquidity-driven year for the TAIEX next year as more overseas funds are expected to flow into the local stock market looking for investment opportunities.
“We are bullish about the TAIEX next year,” Dong told a media briefing.
Earlier this month, Dong raised his forecast that the TAIEX would peak at 9,650 points in the second half of next year, from a previous estimate of 9,200.
The TAIEX closed 0.58 percent higher at 8,753.84 points yesterday.
Seasonal demand would give a boost to tech stocks, which have lagged behind Asian peers in the first half of next year, Dong said.
In the second half, he preferred traditional sectors and said financial stocks would benefit from closer trade ties between Taiwan and China as both sides were set to talk about removing more trade barriers following the signing of Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
UBS said it was upbeat about the PC and smartphone sectors, but the smartphone sector would be a better investment target, given its stronger annual growth rate.
“We believe makers of -smartphones and smartphone companies are worth investing in. And we prefer component makers over handset makers,” UBS analyst Arthur Hsieh (謝宗文) said. “The main reason is component makers are selling to various brands and thus no matter whether a specific brand is selling well or not, component vendors have a better chance to benefit from overall industry growth.
Beside touch screen stocks, Hsieh said metal casing makers would be greater beneficiaries from growing demand for smartphones.
The worldwide smartphone market reached a new milestone in the third quarter as shipments grew 89.5 percent to 81.1 million units, from 42.8 million units a year ago, market researcher International Device Center (IDC) said last month.
“The market transition to smartphones is proceeding at a brisk and unabated pace,” IDC analyst Kevin Restiveo said.
On the PC sector, Hsieh said he also suggested buying PC stocks as growing corporate PC replacement would spur demand next year. Shipments of global notebook computers are expected to grow 14 percent year-on-year next year, he said.
Hsieh preferred PC makers with low debt and committed to high cash dividend delivery, but did not name any names.
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last