Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the nation’s top supplier of power supply units, is expected to forecast high single-digit year-on-year growth in revenue this quarter, supported by growing demand for industrial automation equipment from China and rising orders for hot-pressed power chokes from Apple Inc, analysts said.
Delta is set to release its third-quarter net profits and give its business guidance today.
Delta is expected to post net profit to grow 5 percent to NT$4.47 billion (US$152 million) for last quarter, from the second quarter’s NT$4.26 billion in net profit, Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Christine Wang (王琦清) said.
Wang’s forecast is 6 percent less than the consensus, according to a report released on Thursday. She did not provide detailed figures.
This quarter, revenue is expected to grow 9.26 percent annually to NT$46.23 billion from NT$42.31 billion a year ago, Wang forecast.
“This [year-on-year growth] should be largely triggered by strong demand in the passive components business, especially smartphones and tablets, and better demand for industrial automation than that during last quarter,” Wang said.
The forecast represented a slight quarter-on-quarter increase from NT$46.14 billion.
As hot-pressed power chokes would remain “a seller’s market,” with strong demand for the products used in products, such as smartphones and tablets, Delta is more than likely to enjoy economies of scale during this quarter, Wang said in the report.
With current yield rate improved to more than 90 percent and equipment fully utilized for hot pressed power chokes, Delta’s passive component sales were forecast to account for more than 11 percent of the company’s total sales this quarter, up from 10 percent last quarter, she added.
Operating margin was forecast to be lifted to 11.5 percent for the current quarter from 10.8 percent during the first half of the year, Wang said.
UBS Securities analyst Arthur Hsieh (謝宗文) said in a report released on Friday that Delta is currently the exclusive hot pressed power choke supplier to Apple’s new iPhone 5S and 5C, as well as the new iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina screen.
Hsieh said Delta had started mass producing its hot pressed power choke and produced 300 million units a month since June, adding that Delta has also been able to come up with new design of hot pressed power choke ahead of its Japaneses rivals such as TDK Corp and Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd.
“We believe Delta’s sound strategy and high commitment to the industrial design business should lead the company to deliver above industry performance,” Hsieh said.
As HSBC’s recently released Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for China reached a seven-month high of 50.9 this month, up from 50.2 last month, Hsieh said that he forecast Delta’ industrial automation business would outperform the industry due to growing demand for the product in China.
Wang upgraded her target price for Delta’s shares to NT$164 from NT$155 with an unchanged rating of “outperform,” while Hsieh upgraded his target price to NT$168 from NT$160 with a rating of “buy.”
Delta’s shares closed up 0.33 percent at NT$150 on Friday, outperforming the TAIEX, which fell 0.8 percent.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day