Passive components supplier Walsin Technology Corp (華新科技) yesterday saw its share price soar 9.76 percent, boosted by strong earnings results and a new share buyback plan.
Shares of Walsin Technology rallied to NT$157.50, outperforming the TAIEX, which inched up 0.63 percent, while shares of bigger rival Yageo Corp (國巨) slid 0.43 percent to NT$345.50.
Walsin Technology’s net profit more than doubled to NT$9.16 billion (US$298 million) last quarter from NT$4.37 billion in the second quarter, as a persistent supply crunch propelled prices amid an upcycle rarely seen in the industry’s history, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Gross margin hit a record 70.7 percent last quarter from 56.7 percent in the previous quarter.
In the first three quarters, the Taipei-based supplier of chip resistors and multilayer-ceramic capacitors (MLCC) saw net profit surge to NT$14.84 billion, from NT$7.42 billion in the same period last year.
Earnings per share ballooned to NT$30.69 from NT$15.27.
Net profit in the first three quarters was three times more than Walsin Technology’s share capital of NT$4.86 billion.
The company’s board of directors on Thursday approved a share repurchase plan of NT$14.1 billion, with the company buying back shares at NT$140 to NT$200 apiece from yesterday to Dec. 28, Walsin Technology said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The stock has corrected by 66 percent since peaking this year at NT$458.50 on July 2, reflecting growing concern among investors about changes in market dynamics.
Yageo also benefited from booming demand for MLCCs and reported a spike in net profit to NT14.5 billion last quarter, from NT$10.8 billion in the second quarter, while gross margin surged to 69.3 percent from 64.1 percent, the company said on Wednesday.
In the first three quarters, net profit skyrocketed to NT$29.56 billion from NT$3.83 billion in the same period last year.
Earnings per share climbed to NT$70.29 from NT$8.07.
However, Yageo warned that this quarter would be a slow season, as its distributors’ inventories have risen above normal levels because demand from Chinese clients has been affected by the US-China trade dispute.
“Yageo is taking proactive measures to help distributors reduce inventories to a healthy level,” the company said.
To cope with the headwinds, Yageo said it is optimizing its product portfolio and increasing production of resistors for cars and industrial devices.
The company said that it is gaining more market share, as Japanese rivals are exiting those markets.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS