Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), the world’s second-largest contract notebook maker, yesterday reported a net loss of NT$2.72 billion (US$91.94 million) last quarter, compared with net profits of NT$1.39 billion the previous quarter and NT$1.5 billion a year ago.
That translates into net losses per share of NT$0.63 in the July-to-September period, from earnings per share of NT$0.32 the previous quarter and of NT$0.35 in the same period last year.
Last quarter's net loss was largely because of a one-off loss of NT$4.9 billion from selling off its unprofitable subsidiary Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶電信).
For this quarter, Compal forecasts its sale will increase more than 20 percent from the NT$164.84 billion it made last quarter, supported mainly by increasing tablet shipments, UBN yesterday quoted Compal president Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) as saying at an investors’ conference.
Chen said the company expects notebook shipments to grow at a single-digit rate this quarter from last quarter, when it shipped 10.4 million notebooks worldwide.
Total notebook shipments are expected to reach 37.1 million units this year and that figure may grow by more than 5 percent to 40 million next year, Chen said.
Compal projects its tablet shipments will double to 15 million units next year from this year, while its LCD TV shipments are also to double annually to 6 million units after the incorporation of Toshiba Corp’s LCD TV assembly plant in Poland.
Yuanta Securities Corp (元大證券) analyst Vincent Chen (陳豊丰) yesterday said he remained skeptical of the company’s optimistic guidance for next year.
In addition, "We are still concerned about the market’s incorrect expectations of new smartphone orders from a US customer," he said in a client note last night.
Yuanta forecast Compal to see its notebook shipments post a single-digit percentage fall next year from this year, while its tablet and smartphone shipments might grow by 142 percent and 43 percent year-on-year, respectively.
Compal did not comment on Apple orders, nor offer specific guidance. Its shares fell 2.11 percent to NT$20.90 yesterday.
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