Shares of Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) — one of the nation’s leading integrated circuit packaging and testing services providers — yesterday appeared resilient amid downward pressure in the broader market following the firm’s announcement of a strong performance for last year, traders said.
The relatively stable stock price also reflected a rally of its American depositary receipts (ADRs) on Wall Street overnight and optimism toward Siliconware’s earnings outlook as investors took cues from the company’s upbeat forecast for this year, the dealers added.
Siliconware shares fell 0.19 percent to NT$52.4 yesterday.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange was down 0.88 percent at 9,426.90 points, while the bellwether electronics sub-index was down 1.22 percent at 378.84 points.
“The stock outperformed the broader market, which declined after losses on Wall Street overnight. Investors seemed willing to hold Siliconware shares in the wake of its 2014 earnings,” KGI Securities (凱基證券) analyst Phil Chu said.
In an investors’ conference, Siliconware reported that its net profit for last year rose 99.1 percent from a year earlier to NT$11.73 billion, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$3.74.
Last year’s net profit and EPS both represented seven-year highs.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Siliconware’s net profit fell 7.5 percent from the previous quarter to NT$3.01 billion, with an EPS of NT$0.97, reflecting a seasonal slowdown, while its gross margin for the October-to-December period rose 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier to 26.9 percent.
“In recent sessions, foreign institutional investors have geared up to buy the stock not only on expectations of the strong 2014 results, but also on optimism toward the company’s earnings outlook,” Chu said.
According to Chu, foreign institutional investors bought more than 23 million Siliconware shares on the main board.
He said that a 5.63 percent rally of Siliconware’s ADRs overnight also resulted from foreign institutional interest in the stock.
“Siliconware chairman Bough Lin (林文伯) gave an upbeat forecast for this year, which helped the stock fend off downward pressure on the broader market today,” Chu said.
Lin said during the investor conference that due to the continued seasonal downturn, Siliconware’s sales for the first quarter of this year could fall between 1 percent and 6.6 percent from the previous quarter.
Chu said that the forecast beat market expectations of a double-digit sequential decline.
Lin said that after the first quarter, Siliconware is expected to see its sales pick up for the rest of the year, adding that the company has set a goal to outpace sales growth of the entire IC packaging and testing business, which could post sales growth of 7 to 8 percent this year.
“Although Siliconware shares are resilient for the moment, investors should keep alert over volatility on Wall Street, which could affect the Taipei market and individual stocks. Siliconware could face stiff technical resistance at around NT$55.80 in the near term,” Chu said.
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