HTC released third quarter financial results today, and the trajectory is not good. For the fourth consecutive quarter, profits were down, this time by a whopping 79% compared to the previous quarter. Net income for the third quarter was down to $133 million compared to $247 million for the second quarter. Third quarter revenue was down to about $2.4 billion USD, which missed their guidance issued in August calling for revenue of $2.5 billion USD. Looking forward, the downward trend is expected to continue for at least a fifth consecutive quarter.
HTC’s chief executive officer Peter Chou has urged HTC employees regain a “sense of urgency” and try to avoid bureaucratic drains on the organization. However, analysts like Kevin Chang with Citigroup Inc. in Taipei see “further share looss in the U.S. and Europe” as HTC battles with Samsung and Apple for market share. HTC has been stronger in China, but even the success there is being dampened by “white box smartphones”, unbranded phones that increasingly are providing strong competition to the big name phone makers like HTC.
source: Bloomberg