EQUITIES
TAIEX jumps 170.09 points
The TAIEX yesterday rose sharply by about 170 points, as the bellwether electronics sector continued to gain momentum on the back of a rally by US tech stocks at the end of last week. Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) drove the broader market, while downstream tech stocks, flat-panel makers and some large-cap old-economy stocks also attracted buying interest, dealers said. The TAIEX ended up 170.09 points, or 1.04 percent, at 16,475.97, on turnover of NT$323.26 billion (US$11.32 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$8.74 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners sell TSMC, CAL
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$39.68 billion of shares after selling a net NT$45.03 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The top three stocks sold by foreign investors were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) and Pegatron Corp (和碩), while the top three bought were HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶), Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and Innolux Corp (群創), the exchange said in a statement. As of Friday last week, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$22.32 trillion, or 44.87 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
COMPUTERS
Clevo net profit falls 37.9%
Computer maker Clevo Co (藍天電腦) yesterday reported that net profit last year fell 37.9 percent annually to NT$667 million, while revenue dipped 8 percent to NT$20.2 billion. Earnings per share were NT$1.12, down from NT$1.75 in 2019. The company’s board of directors has proposed to distribute a cash dividend of 0.6 per share, representing a payout ratio of 53.57 percent. The company said that laptop shipments last year rose 8 percent year-on-year to 1.52 million units, while laptop sales increased 5 percent to NT$16.2 billion, despite shortages of key components. As distance learning remains strong and high-end models are likely to benefit from replacement demand, laptop shipments this year are expected to rise 15 percent to 1.75 million units, it said.
RESTAURANTS
TTFB net profit rises 2.5%
Tai Tong Food & Beverage Group (TTFB, 瓦城泰統集團), which operates six restaurant chains in Taiwan and China, yesterday reported that net profit last year increased 2.5 percent year-on-year to NT$369 million. Earnings per share were NT$15.95, a record high, it said. Tai Tong said that it is upbeat about its outlook for the year and plans to accelerate store expansion plans in Taiwan. The company’s board of directors has proposed to distribute a cash dividend of NT$14.5 per share, which represents a payout ratio of 90.91 percent and a dividend yield of 6.6 percent based on yesterday’s closing share price of NT$241.5.
SHIPPING
Evergreen payout approved
Evergreen Marine Corp’s (長榮海運) board of directors last week proposed to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2.5 per common share, the highest over the past decade, based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$5.06, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. The proposed cash dividend represents a payout ratio of 49 percent and a dividend yield of 5.71 percent based on yesterday’s closing share price of NT$43.8.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
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