SK Hynix Profit Misses Estimates, Higher Dividend Lifts Shares
(Bloomberg) -- SK Hynix Inc. posted earnings that fell short of estimates on weaker demand for memory chips and announced a 50 percent increase in dividends, helping to bolster its stock.
The supplier to Apple Inc. said operating income was 4.4 trillion won ($3.9 billion) in the three months ended December, falling short of the 5.1 trillion-won average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales also fell short of expectations. An increase in the annual dividend to 1,500 won from 1,000 won, however, helped fuel a gain of as much as 3.7 percent in the share price.
While the results reflect sluggish demand for mobile chips as phonemakers around the world struggle to revive consumers’ appetite, the Icheon, South Korea-based manufacturer said it plans to “concentrate on high value-added products and technologies in order to prepare for the rapidly changing market conditions.” Apple cut its sales forecast earlier this month and data centers are readjusting their expansion plans amid continued trade frictions between the U.S. and China. Hynix sales rely heavily on the world’s two largest economies.
“As memory demand slowed down in the second half and the supply shortage was resolved, the memory market environment rapidly changed,” the company said in a statement.
The shares of Hynix rose to 69,300 won in early trading in Seoul. The stock fell 21 percent in 2018.
Sales for the quarter were 9.9 trillion won, compared with estimates for 10.3 trillion won. Net income fell 28 percent quarter-on-quarter to 3.4 trillion won. Still, for the full year, Hynix reported record profits and sales.
Contract prices for 32-gigabyte DRAM server modules fell 9.6 percent in the December quarter, according to InSpectrum Tech Inc. Prices for 128 gigabit MLC NAND flash memory chips fell 8.4 percent. Server DRAM prices may fall by more than 20 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of this year, according to TrendForce.
“The speed and extent of the fall will likely get bigger,” Kim Sun-woo and Kim Joon-sung, analysts at Meritz Securities, wrote in a Jan. 14 report. “It seems the market situation around DRAM and NAND has recently entered a worse phase more rapidly.”
Earlier this month, larger rival Samsung Electronics Co. released preliminary earnings that missed estimates in the same quarter. If Samsung pushes out its inventory or reduces its capital spending, it could provide a boost for Hynix, according to a report by Claire Kim, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.
Apple is Hynix’s largest customer, providing about 13 percent of its sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Intel Corp. and Samsung also receive supplies from Hynix, which seeks to become the leader in the fast-growing NAND flash memory market after joining a Bain-led group chosen to take over Toshiba Corp.’s chip-making unit.
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