Touch screen maker TPK Holdings Co (宸鴻) emerged as the “EPS king” of Taiwan’s stock market last year with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$42.24 (US$1.42), according to data released by the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Among other market leaders, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chip foundry, topped publicly listed companies in after-tax income last year, and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s No. 1 electronics manufacturing service provider, reported the highest revenues.
Thanks to robust sales of Apple Inc’s iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, TPK replaced HTC Corp (宏達電) as the market’s EPS leader last year.
Camera lens producer Largan Precision Co (大立光), also a key member of the Apple supply chain, came in second with EPS of NT$41.59. Both TPK and Largan earned more than four times their paid-in capital last year.
Also riding the mobile device boom, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) posted record-high sales and earnings last year and registered the third highest EPS of NT$29.79.
Besides brisk sales of tablet computers, Asustek also outperformed the broader market in notebook shipments. As a result, its sales rose 18.08 percent to NT$375.12 billion, and its annual earnings nearly tripled its paid-in capital.
Analysts forecast that Asustek will continue registering sales growth this year.
In contrast, smartphone maker HTC saw its ranking fall to ninth with EPS of NT$19.69 after posting NT$72.73 in EPS in 2011. It is too early to tell whether the former EPS king will see its earnings per share exceed NT$20 this year.
TSMC remained Taiwan’s most profitable company last year, with after-tax income growing 23.81 percent year-on-year to a record NT$166.16 billion, which translates to NT$455 million per day.
The contract chip maker also reported record consolidated sales of NT$506.2 billion last year and EPS of NT$6.41.
Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) was second with net income of NT$39.90 billion, followed by Asustek with net income of NT$22.42 billion. The next four spots were taken by Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控, NT$21.53 billion in net income), Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控, NT$17 billion), HTC (NT$16.78 billion) and Delta Electronics Inc (台達電, NT$16.11 billion).
Analysts said that the list of top income-earning companies reflected the general state of the economy last year, when upstream wafer foundries and IC designers thrived while downstream hardware suppliers struggled with slowing demand. The trend is expected to continue this year, the analysts said.
Hon Hai led Taiwan-listed companies in revenues for the eighth consecutive year, with consolidated sales growing 13 percent to NT$3.91 trillion.
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