HTC lowers Q4 forecast in face of competition from Apple and Samsung

When we reported HTC’s last earnings call for the third-quarter, the company doubled profits and revenues year over year and had an all around solid quarter. While Q4 revenue will be on par with the same quarter last year, approximately NT$104 billion ($3.4 billion), the Taiwan-based company is lowering revenue estimates by 23% in the face of competitive product lines from Samsung and Apple. Bloomberg reports:

“Due to global macroeconomic downturn and market competition, the assumptions of 2011 Q4 financial forecast provided earlier are no longer applicable,” HTC said. Growth will return in the first half of next year, it said.

Previously the company had estimated  between NT$125 billion and NT$135 billion in sales for Q4, and while HTC’s quarter-on-quarter sales have grown since Q1 2010, this marks the first quarter in nearly two years sales have slowed. HTC shares also hit  NT$565 (a 5.8% drop) before today’s announcement, which accounts for the lowest share value since September 2010.  Inline with HTC’s original estimates, analysts estimates seem to be much higher than the NT$104 billion announced today. Bloomberg grabbed the average of 23 predictions from analysts, which resulted in an a estimate of NT$136.7 billion for Q4.

HTC has also confirmed in a statement today that their $300 million acquisition of S3 Graphics Co. is being reevaluated following the ITC ruling in favor of Apple in a related patent infringement case.

Going forward HTC hopes to increase revenue through emerging markets with Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou saying they expect profits in China to increase by five times, while Indonesia and Latin America will also become a major focus in driving sales.