Sapphire substrate concept stocks have soared lately on China’s A-Shares market, but major international sapphire substrate suppliers stock prices have plunged, according to a China Securities Journal article. Out of the major sapphire substrate manufacturers, U.S. company GT Advanced Technology (GTAT) stock prices were down 10 percent over the last three days, another U.S. company Rubicon also fell 7 percent during the same period, while Korean Sapphire Technology Company has dropped 8 percent over the last five days.

Taiwanese LED packager Edison Opto’s  3Q13 financial results showed the company’s consolidated revenue reached NT$ 826 million (US$ 27.99 million) and underwent a Year-on-Year (YoY) growth rate of 44.89 percent and Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) of 1.6 percent. Under market cutthroat price competition in 2Q, consolidated profit margin was up 7.7 percent compared to 2Q13 to 19.97 percent.

Osram has fully achieved and partially even exceeded its targets for the fiscal year that ended in September 2013. Revenue rose two percent year over year on a comparable basis – meaning excluding portfolio and currency effects – to almost €5.3 billion (US$ 7.93 billion), with a rising dynamic in the final quarter. The revenue share of LED-based products and solutions increased from around 25 percent in fiscal 2012 to 29 percent in the past year. 

Leading Taiwanese LED company Lextar will be unable to avoid impact from 4Q13 low season, according to Credit Suisse reports. However, the company is expected to benefit from the rebounding LED industry in 2014. Lextar lighting revenue is expected to soar 40 percent as new clients join in and investments from old clients. With rising number of Chinese clients, the backlight market performance is expected to be better than average market performance.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar saw earnings turn to losses in 3Q13, due to loss on valuation of financial liability. Although, the company’s gross profit rebound rate was much lower than expected in 2013, higher gross profits from Embedded LED chip (ELC) and AlInGap products will help gross profits return to 17.8 percent levels, CLSA forecasted.

The lighting market trend will continue its gradaul growth. LED lighting penetration rates are expected to further increase as LED prices overall falling and consumer recognition is on the rise. Backlight market orders have slid as uncertainties still surround China’s new home appliance subsidiary policy. Some LED manufacturers revenues have decreased and there has been a rebound in the backlight market compared to last month. With the Chinese Lunar New Year approaching, manufacturers’ conventional holiday stockup demands will provide a certain degree of support for LED manufacturers’ sales performance. Overall, the LED market will continue its upward climb in November.

Financial research institute Zacks Equity Research recently picked Cree as Bear of the Day—a label used to define companies that financially have not been performing too well. In July, Cree had topped the financial company’s list as one of the most promising companies. Below is Zacks analysis of the company’s financial situation:

In the latest development of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (Foshan Lighting) investor lawsuit, the company has contested jurisdiction causing a six months postponement of the court hearing. In late Sept. this year, 515 investors filed compensation lawsuits against the company due to misrepresentation of company finances. The case’s first court hearing was scheduled for Oct. 22, 2013 at Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court, China.

Cree, Inc., a market leader in LED lighting, today announced revenue of US$ 391.0 million for its first quarter of fiscal 2014, ended September 29, 2013. This represents a 24% increase compared to revenue of US$ 315.8 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2013, and a 4% increase compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. GAAP net income for the first quarter was $30.5 million, or US$ 0.25 per diluted share, an increase of 89% year-over-year compared to GAAP net income of US$ 16.1 million, or US$ 0.14 per diluted share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 was US$ 47.3 million, or US$ 0.39 per diluted share, an increase of 49% year-over-year compared to non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 of US$ 31.8 million, or US$ 0.27 per diluted share.

Fairchild Semiconductor, a leading global supplier of power semiconductors, announced that it will voluntarily transfer its stock exchange listing from The New York Stock Exchange to the NASDAQ Global Select Market on October 31, 2013. The company's stock will continue to trade under the symbol "FCS". This transfer will be seamless to Fairchild investors.

 “Extremely encouraging” is how National Lighting Bureau Executive Director John Bachner characterized 2Q13 performance of the NEMA Lighting Systems Index (LSI), which posted its strongest showing since the 3Q08. “The quarter-to-quarter (QOQ) increase was 2.4 percent; not earth-shattering, to be sure, but it was the third consecutive quarterly increase, and represents an almost-5 percent increase in lighting-equipment shipments on a year-over-year (YOY) basis.

Four major Chinese LED manufacturers have recently announced their projected earnings for 3Q13. This article gives a general overview of Xiamen Changelight Co. (Changelight), Ledman Optoelectronics (Ledman), Honglitronic, and Shenzhen Changfang Semiconductor Light Co. (Changfang Light) estimated earnings for the last quarter.

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has invested another US$15.50 million into future R&D of semiconductors and chips, according to a blog entry by Michael Cooney, Online News Editor for Network World.

Benefiting from street light bids, and recognized revenue from German luminaire subsidiary WOFI, The company’s 3Q13 revenue grew at a Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) rate of 18.13%, and an Year-over-Year rate (YOY) of 41.84% to NT$ 7.01 billion (US$ 24 million). The company’s 3Q13 performance outshone other LED packagers.

LED industries are entering traditional off season in 4Q. HSBC states in their most recent LED report that LED industry 3Q13 revenue was weak due to TV backlight demands being lower than expected.

Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an announced on October 8th, 2013,  their purchase in FOREPI stock shares by wholly owned subsidiary Xiamen San’an was finalized on October 2nd.

Lowered LED bulb prices by Cree in 2013 proved effective. The low price policy not only successfully drove sales for LED bulbs but also lead to stock prices doubling for 2013. Goldman Sachs newest report lists four major reasons for its positive outlook on Cree, which include incandescent bulbs exiting the market en masse, rebound in U.S. commercial construction projects, North American green building demands, and Cree’s increasing penetration rate in the Chinese LED market.

Guangdong LED industry market value grew at a Year-on-Year rate of 27.73% this year to RMB 125. 17 billion (US$ 20.45 billion), according to the “2Q13 Guangdong Province LED Industry Operation Monitoring Report” published by Guangdong Semiconductor Lighting Industry Joint Innovation Center (GSC) recently. This is the fourth consecutive year that the LED market value surpassed 20%. In addition, the region showed outstanding performance in exports, patents and other key indicators. The GSC report was officially released at the Guangdong Province’s LED industry forum recently. Highlights of the report are listed below:

China’s LED chip manufacturer HC Semitek Corp. Suzhou branch has received a US$ 150 million loan to be paid back in six years for its LED business, according to a Chinese-language Reuters report.

San’an Optoelectronics recently announced it had received RMB 32 million (US$ 5.23 million) subsidiary from People’s Government of Siming, Xiamen.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire privately held Synos Technology, Inc. (Synos). Synos designs and manufactures Fast Array Scanning™ Atomic Layer Deposition (FAST-ALD™) systems that are enabling the production of flexible OLED displays for mobile devices.

Taiwan LED package manufacturer Edison Opto Corp.’s board recently approved the issuance of unsecured convertible bonds amounting to NT$ 1 billion (US$ 34 million) in Taiwan. This is the second time that the company has issued unsecured convertible bonds in the domestic market. Edison Opto has a positive outlook of the LED lighting market’s continual development, and funds from the bonds will be used to expand the company’s Yangzhou, China factory that will cover high power LED components, PLCC package components, and other product line expansions.

In the first quarter of the current financial year (May-July 2013) the Zumtobel Group posted a further improvement in operating earnings despite a moderate downturn in revenues. In what was still a difficult economic environment, the group’s revenue fell by 4.4% year-on-year to EUR 309.3 million (US$ 411.59 million) in 1Q13. Revenues from the sale of innovative LED products continued their progress, totaling EUR 89.3 million in the first three months. This equates to an increase of 49.7% and the LED share of Group revenues now stands at 28.9% (prior year: 18.4%). This confirms the Zumtobel Group’s strategic decision to invest in the expansion of an innovative product portfolio, despite the difficult business environment.

Strong LED backlight and lighting product performances pushed Taiwan LED package manufacturer revenue for Aug. 2013 up 10.13% to NT$ 2.41 billion (US$ 8 million) compared to NT$ 2.19 billion in July. The company announced Monday its financial results for Aug. 2013, which showed record high growths, as revenues grew at an Year-on-Year (YOY) rate of 33.96% compared to the same period last year. Everlight’s order visibility is 1.5 months, and its utilization rate was 80-90%. Operations in 2H13 showed minor differences in 3Q and 4Q estimations.

Affected by the end of China’s Home Appliance Subsidies, demands for large size LED-backlit products waned in 3Q13. Citibank’s report forecasted large size backlight LED revenues for Epistar Corp. and Everlight Electronics, leaders in Taiwan’s LED upstream and downstream markets. The entry of lighting demands will alleviate the stress manufacturers are under from sliding LED-backlit demands. 

Technology specialists from the company that created new smartphone utility app, Small Call, announce LEDgoes, a new modular scrolling LED matrix attracting over 150 pledges and US$ 11,600 amidst a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Elec-Tech International (ETI) revenues grew 10.52% to RMB 1.35 billion (US$ 220 million) in 1H13, according to the company’s 1H13 financial report released on Aug. 24. However, the company’s net income plunged 59.38% compared to the same period last year to RMB 50.5 million.

Furi Electronics will be holding a shareholders’ meeting on Sept. 2 to decide on the company’s private investments to acquire 92.8% of MR LED Photoelectricity Co. stock shares. According to the transfer of stock rights agreement, once the deal is sealed MR Photoelectricity’s 2013-2015 financial reports will belong to the parent company. Excluding non-recurring profits and losses, MR Photoelectricity’s earnings cannot be less than RMB 30 million (US$ 4.9 million), RMB 35 million and RMB 39 million throughout the three years, and total net profit cannot be lower than RMB 12,000. 

Rigid Industries LED Lighting, a manufacturer of forward projecting LED lighting via its patented optics systems announced its 2013 ranking of 151 on Inc. Magazine’s 500|5000 Fastest Growing Companies list. Additionally, Rigid leads the industry as the fastest growing LED lighting manufacturer and the fifth fastest growing in overall manufacturing in the U.S., proving to be one of the moving companies of 2013. From 2009 – 2012, Rigid experienced an exponential growth rate of 2,528% and reached a lucrative US$ 24.1 million in 2012.

In line with the Financial Results for the first half of 2013 HC SemiTek recently released, its total revenue is 112 million Yuan, decrease of 40.42 percent compared to the same period of last year. The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is 14.29 million Yuan, down 61.47 percent over the same period of last year. Basic EPS (earnings per share) is about 0.05 Yuan, down 68.75 percent Y-o-Y. HC SemiTek said that operating income in the first half of 2013 dropped 40.42% Y-o-Y, after the last year's irrational price competition in LED chip...