Pegatron Corp (和碩), one of Apple Inc’s iPhone assemblers, yesterday reported a record-high net income of NT$5.68 billion (US$180.3 million) for the past quarter, mainly driven by the strong demand for smartphones.
The figure represented 68.1 percent annual growth compared with NT$3.37 billion last year.
“However, we expect shipments to decline across the board [this quarter] due to seasonal weakness,” Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng (程建中) told an investors’ conference.
Motherboard, desktop and notebook computer shipments are forecast to drop by between 15 percent and 20 percent sequentially this quarter, said Cheng, who did not provide a guidance for revenue outlook.
As for the firm’s consumer and communication products, Cheng said that revenue is expected to decline by between 20 percent and 25 percent from the previous quarter.
STEADY MARGINS
Gross margin is expected to remain the same as last quarter’s 5.8 percent, Cheng said.
UBS Securities Pte Ltd expects the company’s revenue to plummet 21.16 percent to NT$277.46 billion this quarter from NT$351.94 billion last quarter.
Cheng said he expects the seasonal weakness to extend into next quarter, which is expected to be this year’s trough for Pegatron in terms of revenue based on historical records.
“Sales will pick up in the third quarter and reach their peak in the fourth quarter, again bringing annual revenue to more than NT$1 trillion this year,” Cheng said.
The company’s revenue is expected to grow by between 5 percent and 10 percent this year from last year’s NT$1.02 trillion, driven by continued robust demand from the communications segment, he said.
Pegatron’s communications segment accounted for 59 percent of the firm’s revenue last quarter, up 29 percentage points from a year ago.
Cheng expects revenue contribution from the segment to continue to growth this year.
HANDHELDS
“The rising sales contribution from the communications segment reflects the trend of growing demand for handheld devices,” Cheng said.
On the other hand, the revenue contribution from the company’s computing segment, which includes motherboard, desktop and notebook computer products, plunged 18 percentage points to 16 percent in the last quarter from a year ago, the company said.
Pegatron’s PC-related shipment volume is expected to grow slightly from last year’s 10 million units on the back of rising orders for its Chromebook and 2-in-1 detachable notebooks, Cheng said.
CHROMEBOOKS
“Pegatron is now a Chromebook supplier, and we expect to start shipping the products in the next quarter,” he said.
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