Smartphone vendor HTC Corp’s (宏達電) sales momentum gained steam last month after a sharp contraction in July, company data showed yesterday.
Consolidated sales for last month grew 37.12 percent to NT$14.54 billion (US$484.9 million) from July, the company said in an e-mailed statement, compared with a month-on-month decline of 51.61 percent in the previous month.
On an annual basis, sales growth came in at 10.43 percent, compared with the 32.58 percent seen in July, data showed.
Market watchers, who had expected a stronger monthly increase of 50 percent to take sales to NT$16 billion, said the results showed that sales of HTC’s flagship One M8 and mid-tier Desire 816 handsets lacked persistent momentum.
HTC shares fell 1.45 percent to close at NT$135.50 yesterday in Taipei trading, underperforming the TAIEX, which rose 0.54 percent. They have slid 3.9 percent since the beginning of the year, compared with the broader market’s 9.74 percent increase during the period.
The Taoyuan-based company, which did not elaborate on its sales results, started shipping the second generation of its popular Butterfly series smartphone in Japan last month and in Taiwan this month. However, the company is facing tougher challenges ahead, given stiff competition from vendors such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Xiaomi Corp (小米) in China in the mid and low-end segment market, as well as from Samsung Electronics Co, LG Electronics Co and Sony Corp in the high-end segment.
Additionally, Apple Inc’s larger iPhone is expected to hit the market later this month, heightening competition in the industry.
Daiwa Capital Markets Inc analyst Kylie Huang (黃奎毓) said in a recent client note that HTC has good products, but “these are not enough for it to see a sustained revenue and earnings comeback” due to stiff competition.
CIMB Securities Ltd analyst Wang Wanli (王萬里) forecast that HTC smartphone shipments would drop by 27.4 percent to 4.5 million units this quarter from last quarter, even though there are several new models in the pipeline.
Compared with the year-earlier levels, HTC’s cumulative revenue for the first eight months of the year decreased 13.36 percent to NT$123.33 billion, according to the company’s statement.
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