MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest mobile phone chip designer, yesterday posted revenue growth of nearly 22 percent for last month as shipments soared on lower prices, which bodes well for the company’s third quarter, analysts said.
Revenues expanded 21.70 percent to NT$10.04 billion (US$31.36 million) last month, compared with NT$8.24 billion in July, according to a company statement. However, on an annual basis, the results declined 17.43 percent from NT$12.16 billion from the same period last year.
“The rebound was driven by an order rebound after the July price cuts, easing of [Chinese] government crackdowns and pull-ins for Golden Week [in October],” said Credit Suisse analyst Randy Abrams said in a report released yesterday.
Abrams raised his forecast for MediaTek’s third quarter revenues to NT$28.5 billion, from NT$26.9 billion previously.
This means MediaTek’s revenues would drop by 5 percent from NT$29.95 billion in the second quarter, rather than by 10 percent, Abrams said.
He also raised MediaTek’s earnings for this year to NT$36.22 billion from an earlier estimate of NT$34.53 billion and increased the stock’s target price to NT$475 from NT$440.
Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang (張凱偉) said the chip designer might cut prices by 10 percent to boost shipments, which jumped 35 percent last month to 50 million units from 37 million units in July.
Chang said MediaTek’s revenues could exceed his forecast of NT$27.65 billion if the chip company posted flat revenues for next month to bring the third-quarter revenues to NT$28.3 billion.
However, Chang said continuing erosion in the average selling price (ASP) was “a very dangerous trend.”
He predicted that MediaTek would ship a record high 140 million units of baseband in the current quarter, but revenues could go down by between 15 percent and 20 percent from a year ago.
Without moving to smartphones and 3G solutions, MediaTek’s ASP was likely to fall further, Chang said. He kept his “sell” rating on MediaTek unchanged.
UMC REVENUE INCREASES
Separately, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s second-largest contract chipmaker, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday that its revenue increased 20.13 percent to NT$10.86 billion from NT$9.06 billion a year earlier.
It did not explain the revenue jump in the statement. However, last month’s figure was 0.59 percent higher than July’s level and represented the highest since September 2004, when it posted NT$11.86 billion, according to the company’s previous financial statements.
UMC said on Aug. 4 at its quarterly investor conference that it expected strong growth momentum would extend to the third quarter from the second quarter thanks to a strong demand of consumer electronics.
In the first eight months of the year, the company’s revenue totaled NT$78.17 billion, up 52.26 percent from NT$51.34 billion in the same period of last year, the statement said.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest chip packaging and testing company, also released its unaudited consolidated net revenue for last month. Revenue was up 107.4 percent year-on-year at NT$17.31 billion and 3.0 percent month-on-month, the Kaohsiung-based company said in a separate statement.
From January to August, revenue totaled NT$44.02 billion, up 61.48 percent from NT$27.26 billion a year earlier, ASE said.
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