Replies to post #119695 on ORIONS Money Stocks

[AugustaFriends]

UMC - nice chart - will do some research on it. Thanks --

[Boochy]

Some UMC DD...

Q1 sales to ease, but full year to stay strong - analyst

* Larger TSMC expected to outpace UMC (Recasts to combine TSMC, UMC sales, adds analyst comment)

By Clare Jim

TAIPEI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - TSMC (2330.TW) and UMC (2303.TW), the world's top two contract chipmakers, posted growth in sales for the first month of 2011, riding on a boom in new electronic products including smartphones and tablet computers.

Analysts, however, said sales growth would likely ease in the next two months after the year-end holiday season, although Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) (TSM.N) was expected to further outpace smaller United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) (UMC.N) on strength in new orders.

"The January figures show first-quarter sales will be in line with company guidances, which is slightly lower than the fourth quarter of last year," said KGI Securities analyst Ricky Liu.

For the whole of 2011, Liu said TSMC and UMC would benefit from strong fundamentals and chip demand although new orders at TSMC would outpace UMC because it had bigger clients, such as U.S. chipmaker Broadcom Corp (BRCM.O).

Greater economies of scale and a wider customer base also offer TSMC fatter margins than smaller competitors such as UMC and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) (0981.HK).

TSMC said on Thursday that January sales rose 18 percent from a year earlier, while UMC reported an 11 percent rise. The growth rates at both companies were up from the previous month, representing a rising trend.

TSMC posted unconsolidated sales of T$34.42 billion ($1.20 billion) last month, compared with T$29.16 billion a year earlier and December's T$33.75 billion.

UMC reported sales of T$9.525 billion in January, compared with T$8.60 billion in January 2010 and December's T$10.178 billion.

Last month, the two companies said they expected slower sales in the first quarter compared with the previous quarter after the year-end holiday season. [ID:nTOE70O020][ID:nTOE70N02Z]

Shares of TSMC and UMC have risen 1.4 percent and 2.1 percent respectively this year as investors bet on growing chip demand. The main TAIEX share index .TWII is down 1.5 percent this year.

However, semiconductor shares face downward pressure, with a rising Taiwan dollar casting a shadow over their earnings outlook. The currency TWD=TP rose to a 13-year high on Wednesday.

TSMC closed down 2.4 percent on Thursday, outpacing the TAIEX's 1.9 percent fall, while UMC fell 2.1 percent.

For sales tables on the companies' websites, see here here (US$1=T$28.9) (Editing by Chris Lewis)
==================================================================
Press Release Source: United Microelectronics Corporation On Thursday February 10, 2011, 1:28 am EST

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC - News) ("UMC"), today reported unaudited net sales for the month of January 2011.

Revenues for January 2011

 
 Period	2011	   2010	        Y/Y Change  Y/Y %    M/M % 
 Jan	9,525,055  8,600,453	924,602	    10.75%  -6.42% 
 

(*) All figures in thousands of New Taiwan Dollars (NT$), except for percentages.

Additional information about UMC is available on the web at http://www.umc.com.

~Boochy