We attended the
company’s 1Q13 post-result briefing yesterday and came back with the view that
the company’s outlook continues to remain challenging due to the weakness in
the global economy and the slower growth in the PC market. We also see the industry’s
prospect being hampered by a potential slowdown in the demand of smartphones
and tablets should the weak global economic conditions persist. Management is
guiding for a flat QoQ revenue growth in 2Q13. However, it is believed that
there could be a recovery in 2H13. For now, we maintaining our revised earnings
estimates (which were downgraded yesterday) for FY13E (RM14.7m) and FY14E
(RM31.0m). Our MPI’s TP is maintained at RM2.78 based on a targeted FY13E PBV
of 0.85x (-1.5 SD below its historical 3-year mean). We are also keeping our
MARKET PERFORM rating on the stock.
Summary of 1Q13
results. MPI recorded a decrease in its 1Q13 earnings by 98.9% on a QoQ
basis to just RM0.1m (vs. RM13.5m in 4Q12) due mainly to the soft demand in its
leadframe business and a tax adjustment of –RM1.6m (vs. RM7.5m in 4Q12).
Margin-wise, its EBIT margin decreased 1.3% QoQ (vs. 2.4% in 4Q12) due to
higher operating expenses from the ramp-up of its Suzhou’s operation.
Expecting a flat QoQ
revenue growth in 2Q13. Management expects flattish revenue in 2Q13 as the
overall market sentiment is still seen as very weak. However, the management is
expecting a potential recovery in 2H13, likely to be driven by its increasingly
strong position in its new products such as MLP/QFN package. Note that MLP/QFN
package is widely installed in smartphone and tablet products, which are mainly
dominant by Apple and Samsung products.
Weak outlook going
forward. Together with the weak and
uncertain global economic conditions, we are of the view that there will be a continued
slowdown in the traditional PC segment as some consumers have shifted their
demands to smartphones and tablets. However, even the growth of smartphones and
tablets may also see a slowdown as well from its rapid growth pace in the past
few years if the current weak global economic
conditions persist. All in all, the earnings and growth visibility of the
industry will continue to be affected as the demand for all segments of the
industry is now seen as weaker and uncertain. This will pose a higher risk for
semiconductor companies’ outlook and earnings over the next few quarters.
Potential higher
commodity prices. Traditionally, MPI
has been using gold as one of its major raw materials in its packages. However,
gold price has increased significantly and affected the cost of its products.
Hence, the company has tried to shift its raw material usage from gold to
copper as the latter is inexpensive compared to gold. Customers tend to choose
gold compared to copper as gold is a good conductor compared to copper. Alternately,
the company has ventured into other high-margin products, which have smaller
packages size and thus could reduce the cost of the products.
Source: Kenanga
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