Share prices of Apple Inc’s Taiwanese supply-chain companies gained yesterday on the back of the iPhone and iPad maker’s better-than-expected quarterly results.
While Apple is expected to introduce new products later this year, brokerages suggested that investors avoid holding certain stocks due to a delayed schedule for Apple’s new product shipments.
Shares of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Apple’s major assembler of iPhones and iPads, climbed 1.41 percent to NT$79, the highest level in the past two months.
Shares of another assembler, Pegatron Corp (和碩), closed 0.11 percent higher at NT$46.1, outperforming the broader market, which fell 0.22 percent.
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co’s (大立光) shares were up 1.71 percent at NT$890, but those of Catcher Technology Co (可成科技), which supplies metal casings for iPhones, dropped 0.37 percent to NT$135.5.
Casetek Holdings Ltd (鎧勝), which makes casings for the MacBook and iPad, saw its shares rise 1.77 percent to NT$143.5, while panel maker AU Optronics Co (友達光電), which manufactures retina displays for the iPad Mini, saw its shares decline 1.39 percent to NT$10.65.
“We suggest investors avoid Pegatron, Catcher and Largan due to the iPad Mini 2 being delayed until the first quarter of next year,” Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) analyst Arthur Liao (廖顯毅) said in an e-mail.
Liao said Apple’s third-quarter sales of US$35.3 billion and net profits of US$6.9 billion were slightly better than his own estimates.
The Cupertino, California-based firm’s 31.2 million iPhone shipments, 3.8 million iPad shipments and 30 million Mac shipments also beat Fubon’s forecast of 30 million, 13 million and 3.9 million respectively, he said.
Liao said he was not positive toward Apple’s next-generation iPhone, because the planned iPhone 5S might not be much different to the iPhone 5.
“We feel the [speculated] 4-inch panel size of the iPhone 5S and the [planned] low-price iPhone will make Apple suffer, leading to a decline in volume due to the growing trend of larger displays in the Chinese market,” Liao said.
Liao added that the volume decline would most likely impact Largan, which is a major supplier of components for both the iPhone 5S and the lower-priced iPhone.
However, Calvin Wei (魏建發), an analyst at Yuanta Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧), suggested that investors hold on to Hon Hai, Largan, Catcher and Casetek shares as Apple is set to roll out the new iPhone and iPad products by the end of this quarter.
Wei said Apple’s earnings beat the market consensus, adding that the launch of the new products could drive the share prices of Apple’s supply chain companies.
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