Lextar’s revenue in October 2014 continued to decline, with initial estimations November to December performances being flat or showing only minor growth, mainly due to backlight’s slack season, according to a Money DJ report.
It is estimated 4Q14 revenue will decline 15% to 20%, while revenue for 2014 was up 5% to 7%, while annual Earning Per Share (EPS) was about NT $1.2. The company has started to ship products to new clients, bringing good revenue performances in 1Q14 and even revenue growth.
Lextar is a subsidiary of AUO, and has a comprehensive vertically integrated LED production line that covers LED chips and packaging. Currently, 70% of the company’s LEDs are applied in backlight and 30% in lighting. Since acquiring funding from new stockholder Cree, the company expects backlight and lighting product applications to grow simultaneously. Out of these lighting growth has been the strongest, backlight’s revenue share is estimated to drop to 60%, while lighting will grow to 40%.
Currently, Lextar’s order share is close to 50%, and with the new client orders the company might be able to keep around 50% of AUO orders or potentially decline. After production expansions in 2014, the company’s LED package production capacity reached 1.4 billion PCS/month. The company’s LED chip production expansion project, which is to be completed in first half of 2015, will raise manufacturing capacity from 250,000 to 350,000 TIE.
Affected by the traditional peak season surge, and added production capacity, Lextar set a new revenue record in 3Q14. With the approaching low season, backlight and lighting LED product demands have both dropped. It is estimated 4Q14 revenue will be lower than last quarter. However, with new client orders it is expected the company’s 1Q15 revenue will be better than expected, and even rebound 10%.
Lextar’s accumulated revenue in the first three quarters of 2014 was up 7.5% to NT $11.19 billion (US $360 million). Still the company’s 4Q14 revenue is expected to decline 15% to 20% quarterly to reach about NT $3.3 billion to 3.5 billion, about the same as last year. The company’s revenue in 2014 is expected to reach NT $14.5-14.7 billion, or up about 5% to 7% or an ESP of about NT $1.2.