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.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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