HTC stocks down on losses announcement

Stocks in Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC fell today (April 8th) after the company revealed in its latest financial results that it made a loss in the first quarter of the year.

Although analysts had predicted the firm would announce a loss for the January to March period, the figures were even worse than expected and this caused the company's share price to fall.

HTC revealed in a statement that it made a loss of 1.88bn Taiwanese dollars (£40 million), which is a major change from last year, when the firm recorded a profit of T$85 million.

Dennis Chan, analyst at Yuanta Securities, said all eyes in the smartphone sector are now on HTC to see how its new flagship model, the HTC One M8, is going to perform in the next quarter.

Market competition

While HTC used to be a market leader in the smartphone industry, it has seen competitors such as Samsung and Apple become more popular with the main devices the Galaxy series and the iPhone. The HTC One used to be among the top-sellers, but has seen its sales fall recently.

Mr Chan told the BBC: "The M8 is good, but it's not as revolutionary as the previous flagship. Everyone is watching the second quarter to see how it sells."

Mark Stocker, a brand consultant based in Taiwan, suggested HTC needs to look at what rivals such as Apple are doing to boost their business. HTC stocks have fallen by almost 40 per cent in the last year, with the share price of the firm taking a big hit as a result of the company's slowly eroded share of the smartphone market.

Mr Stocker said: "Mimic them, but figure out what your brand stands for. If Apple is Mercedes Benz, try to make yourself BMW."

Following the news of the worse than expected losses for HTC in the first quarter of the year, the company's share price fell by more than 2.5 per cent during today's trading session in Taiwan.

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