Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday cut its revenue forecast for this quarter by 5 percent due to weaker-than-expected notebook sales and lower average selling prices of its smartphones because of product-cycle dissipation.
The PC vendor expects to post from NT$90 billion to NT$95 billion (US$2.77 billion to US$29.29 billion) in revenue this quarter, a fall from its previous estimate of NT$95 billion to NT$100 billion, according to a company statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Operating margin this quarter would be from 4 percent to 4.5 percent, a similar range to the previous quarter’s 4.3 percent, Asustek said.
“The reason we trimmed the quarterly revenue outlook is mainly due to softer-than-expected notebook demand in China and southeast Asian countries,” Asustek spokesman Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone.
The remarks came with Asustek’s release of its monthly brand consolidated revenue results, which it said dropped 6 percent year-on-year to NT$28.7 billion last month.
Last month’s brand consolidated revenue expanded by 10 percent from a month earlier, Asustek said.
Asustek’s consolidated revenuesgrew 0.9 percent year-on-year to NT$180.21 billion in the first five months of this year, according to the company’s filing.
Wu said that compared with demand in Asia, notebook demand in Europe was relatively good, but that demand in Brazil is weak because of political instability.
The company has been shrinking its notebook business in Brazil in an attempt to reduce its risk exposure in the country, he said.
Wu said Asustek’s smartphone shipment momentum in the past two months was “OK,” but that falling average selling prices pressured the company’s overall revenue performance.
Despite dropping revenue in the smartphone segment, Asustek’s smartphone business is still expected to break even this quarter, he added.
Although next quarter is traditionally the peak season for consumer electronics products, the company remains conservative about it business outlook in the period, due to poor demand visibility, Wu said.
When asked if the company would revise its annual shipments target for notebook and smartphone products due to the soft data this quarter, Wu said that it is still too early to tell, citing unpredictable macroeconomic factors.
Asustek chief executive officer Jerry Shen (沈振來) on Wednesday last week told shareholders that the company is aiming to ship a similar amount of notebooks this year as last year — when it shipped 19.3 million units — despite the majority of its competitors expecting a 10 percent annual decline in worldwide notebook shipments.
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