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Sharp shares jump on report Sony may order LCD panels

Sharp Corp, Japan's biggest maker of liquid-crystal displays, rose the most in more than a week in Tokyo trading after the Nikkei Shimbun reported the company is poised to win LCD TV panel orders from Sony Corp.

Sharp gained 5.2 percent, the biggest advance since Feb. 14, to ¥2,100 at the close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Sony plans to buy LCDs from Sharp by as early as the next fiscal year, the Nikkei reported on Feb. 23, without citing anyone. Spokesmen at both companies declined to comment on the report.

Orders from Sony, the world's largest LCD TV maker, would fit into Sharp president Mikio Katayama's plans to reduce the company's reliance on its own Aquos TVs to meet panel demand. Sharp, which sells about 80 percent of its displays to itself, convinced Toshiba Corp in December to become a customer.

"The news that Sharp will supply Sony can be viewed as evidence of such a shift in the business model" Yoshiharu Izumi, a Tokyo-based analyst with JPMorgan Chase & Co, wrote in a report yesterday. "Whether this strategy succeeds hinges upon whether LCD panel prices remain stable over the long term and whether Sharp can be cost competitive enough to battle with Asian manufacturers."

Attracting Sony is "very positive news for Sharp," Goldman Sachs Group analyst Yuji Fujimori wrote in a report yesterday.

A deal would benefit both companies and help their shares, Deutsche Bank AG analyst Yasuo Nakane wrote in a report.

External customers will probably account for more than 30 percent of Sharp's LCD sales in the fiscal year starting April 1, from 20 percent currently, Katayama told reporters last month.

Sony may purchase as many as 5 million LCDs from Sharp in the year ending March 2010, the Nikkei said. Spokesmen at both companies declined to comment on the report

Samsung Electronics Co. expects to maintain its "cooperative" relationship with Sony, said James Chung, a spokesman at the Suwon-based company. Samsung is still negotiating with Sony about jointly investing in a new so-called eighth-generation production line, Chung said.

Samsung is Sony's main supplier, which overtook Samsung as the world's largest LCD TV vendor during the fourth quarter last year, estimates this month from market researcher DisplaySearch indicate.
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