HTC Drops After Revenue Forecast Misses Estimates: Taipei Mover

HTC Corp. (2498), Asia’s second-largest smartphone maker, dropped to its lowest level in more than two years in Taipei trading after forecasting revenue that missed analyst estimates amid intensifying competition.

The company fell 6.9 percent to NT$258.50 as of 9:48 a.m. local time, set for the lowest close since Feb. 8, 2010. The stock has declined 48 percent this year. The benchmark Taiex index rose 1.4 percent today.

New models from Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. (AAPL) will suppress revenue at HTC until the end of the year, according to KGI Securities Co. Third-quarter revenue will be NT$70 billion ($2.3 billion) to NT$80 billion, HTC said, compared with the NT$87 billion average of 10 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg in the 28 days before the company, maker of the One, Sensation and Desire handsets, issued its forecast.

“We expect HTC’s One series will continue to face competition from Samsung’s Galaxy S3, Note 2 and Apple iPhone 5 in the second half of 2012,” KGI Taipei-based analyst Richard Ko wrote in an Aug. 3 report, cutting his price estimate 33 percent to NT$180 and reiterating an underperform rating.

HTC has reported revenue that missed analyst estimates for four consecutive quarters, according to Bloomberg data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net; Adela Lin at alin95@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net.

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HTC Drops After Revenue Forecast Misses Estimates

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

New models from Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. will suppress revenue at HTC until the end of the year, according to KGI Securities Co.

New models from Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. will suppress revenue at HTC until the end of the year, according to KGI Securities Co. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg