Shares of the leading supplier of camera lens modules Largan Precision Co (大立光) yesterday rose 9.99 percent as investors welcomed the resumed trade talks between the US and China, while the market expects a positive outlook for the company as the electronic components industry enters its high season.
Largan shares closed at NT$4,240, compared with NT$3,855 on Friday last week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
After his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Saturday in Osaka, Japan, US President Donald Trump said that Washington had halted additional tariffs on US$350 billion of Chinese goods as well as softening his stance on the issue of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (華為) by allowing US companies to continue supplying the Chinese firm under certain conditions.
“This news came as a boost of confidence for Largan’s business outlook in the upcoming months,” Good Security Investment Consultant Co (顧德投顧) analyst Huang Han-cheng (黃漢成) told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday, predicting steady growth for the Taichung-based company until November.
In addition to Huawei, Largan also counts Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co, Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) and Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃) among its major customers.
“With new Apple products set to be released in the coming months, Largan shipments should increase in July,” Huang said, adding that the company supplies an estimated 90 percent of rear lenses for Apple’s iPhones.
According to market speculation, Apple is to release two new iPhone models equipped with three camera lenses each and another model equipped with two lenses later this year.
“We count up to 200 million rear lenses for iPhones, of which Largan would supply 180 million,” Huang said.
Largan reported sales growth of 19.05 percent in the first five months of the year to NT$19.84 billion, compared with NT$16.67 billion the previous year.
“We have forecast a month-on-month decrease in sales for last month, but July sales would perform better,” a Largan official told the Taipei Times by telephone, citing remarks made by Largan chief executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting last month.
Trump’s decision to allow Huawei to source some products from US suppliers also helped boost Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares.
Analysts have estimated that Huawei accounts for between 5 and 10 percent of TSMC’s total sales.
That saw the shares return to the level they were at before going ex-dividend on Monday last week.
Ex-dividend refers to when shares are traded without the buyer being entitled to next dividend payment.
TSMC shares closed at NT$248.5 on June 21, before going ex-dividend and opening at NT$240.5 at the start of trading on Monday last week. The shares yesterday rose 3.97 percent to close at NT$248.5.
The shares recovered to their pre-ex-dividend level in just six sessions, the fastest TSMC has achieved the feat since 2016, when they took only three trading sessions to return to the pre-ex-dividend level.
It took TSMC shares 20 trading sessions to return to the pre-ex-dividend level last year and 32 sessions in 2017.
Additional reporting by CNA
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