Foreign brokerages yesterday upgraded their ratings for Catcher Technology Co (可成科技) shares, after the iPhone and iPad casing supplier posted better-than-expected earnings per share of NT$5.22 on Monday.
Analysts also raised their target price on Catcher shares on a positive outlook for the company this quarter.
Catcher told investors in a conference call on Monday that its net profit rose 43.2 percent year-on-year to NT$3.92 billion in the first quarter, but declined 14.7 percent quarter-on-quarter.
The company forecast its sales in the second quarter would achieve a double-digit growth rate, adding that it had ordered another 600 CNC machines for its plant in Taizhou, China, to boost its capacity in preparation for additional orders in the second half of the year.
“Year to date, Catcher has added 1,600 CNC machines with total capacity reaching more than 15,000 machines now. The capacity expansion implies a solid order outlook in the second half of the year,” HSBC Securities (Taiwan) Corp Ltd analysts Jenny Lai (賴惠娟) and Carrie Liu wrote in a report yesterday.
Lai and Liu said they believed new smartphone model ramp-ups by Catcher’s clients, such as HTC Corp (宏達電), Sony Corp and Research In Motion Ltd, would be key drivers of Catcher’s second-quarter sales growth, while notebook casings were also expected to see improving growth momentum starting late this quarter.
HSBC Securities upgraded its rating for Catcher shares to “overweight” from “neutral” with a target price of NT$188. The brokerage forecast that Catcher’s sales this quarter will grow 22 percent quarter-on-quarter, followed by 12 percent sequential growth in the third quarter of the year.
Credit Suisse analyst Pauline Chen (陳柏齡) in a note released yesterday maintained her “outperform” rating for Catcher, and lifted her target price to NT$184 from NT$163.
UBS Securities and JPMorgan Securities retained their ratings on Catcher at “buy” and “underweight” respectively.
UBS raised its target price for Catcher to NT$182 from NT$172, while JPMorgan increased its target price to NT$130 from NT$120.
Catcher shares closed down 4.38 percent at NT$153 yesterday.
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