HTC Profit Reaches the Bottom

HTC -Asia’s second-largest Smartphone maker- posted its biggest drop in profit since listing a decade ago after sales declined amid competition from Apple and Samsung.

First-quarter net income was NT$4.46 billion, Taiwan-based company said in a statement on its website yesterday, a 70 per cent drop from a year earlier.

HTC “dropped the ball” on new products during the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Winston Yung said in February, pushing inventories higher and prompting the company to forecast a “transitional” first quarter, as Bloomberg stated.

“HTC’s sales growth for 2012 from a low base should exceed those for major competitors Apple and Samsung,” Dale Gai at Barclays said.