HTC’s fourth-quarter earnings disappoint as smartphone competition heats up

9to5 Staff | Jan 9 2012 - 7:15 am PT

Source: HTC

HTC posted unaudited consolidated results for the fourth quarter of 2011 this morning. The numbers do not look good for Asia’s second-largest handset maker as net income fell 26 percent annually to $11 billion in New Taiwan currency, or approximately $364 million USD – its first quarterly profit decline in two years. Revenue for the quarter was NT$101,419 million, a 2.49 percent annual decline.

Unaudited operating income reached NT$12.98 billion, but net income after tax was NT$11.02 billion, which is slightly behind the NT$11.6 billion expected by 11 analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Shares fell 4.2 percent to a three-week low of NT$462 in Taipei trading as Citigroup cut both the 2012 and 2013 earnings estimates for the company by 19 percent each. Citigroup explained its decision with the expected market share losses to Apple and Samsung. Surely, the writing has been on the wall for HTC for some time (here and here). More information and another chart are featured right after the break.

Interestingly, Bloomberg blamed the lower-than-expected results on strong competition, warning “shipments and sales may fall further this quarter as competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. dent demand for its handsets.” There is no denying that Samsung has been eating pretty much everyone’s lunch for a while now. On top of that, up and coming Chinese handset makers Hawei and ZTE have been gaining significant traction, especially in Europe. HTC and other handset makers apart from Apple will strengthen their smartphone portfolios at the Mobile World Congress, the mobile industry’s most important trade show that runs this year between Feb. 27 and March 1 in Barcelona, Spain.