Largan Precision Co (大立光), the nation’s leading handset camera lens maker, yesterday reported the highest earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter in five years, as the company’s shares closed up by the daily maximum following days of selling.
EPS came in at NT$48.28, compared with NT$45.79 a year earlier, as the company’s net profit grew 5.44 percent year-on-year to NT$6.44 billion (US$195.9 million) from NT$6.11 billion, the company’s financial report showed.
Operating income increased 54 percent to NT$6.09 billion, but non-operating income fell 53 percent to NT$1.63 billion, the report showed.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
Gross margin improved to 54.63 percent from 49.17 percent, while operating margin improved to 41.8 percent from 35 percent, it showed.
Revenue is expected to grow more slowly in the second quarter from NT$14.58 billion in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, Largan executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) said, adding that the US tariffs would not have a direct impact on the company’s operations.
“April sales would be weaker than March’s, and May would be even softer than April, as the second quarter typically marks the off-season for the industry,” Lin said at an online earnings conference.
As the company does not ship products directly to the US, but mostly to China and other Asian countries, a higher US tariff is not expected to affect its shipments directly, Lin said.
So far, the company has not seen signs of clients front-loading shipments, rescheduling shipping locations, or changing their purchase prices in response to the US tariff policy, he said.
In the first quarter, high-end smartphone camera lenses with resolutions above 20 megapixels accounted for about 20 to 30 percent of the company’s total shipments, lenses with 10 megapixels comprised roughly 60 to 70 percent, and lenses with 8 megapixels or fewer made up less than 10 percent, while other products took up about 10 to 20 percent, the financial report showed.
The company is capable of mass producing high-end camera lenses for Apple Inc when its key client is to release the new iPhone product line in the third quarter, Lin said.
The company is also finding no difficulty in supplying lenses for slimmer and foldable handsets, although such demand remains limited in terms of orders, he said.
As for the lens maker’s development in the humanoid service robot sector, demand for high-precision visual recognition products from its customers is likely to grow, Lin said.
Largan’s shares closed 10 percent higher at NT$1,980 yesterday, on the back of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause of his “reciprocal” tariffs.
Asked whether the company would implement share buybacks to gain investors’ confidence and steady the stock’s recent fluctuations, Lin said the company’s board of directors would consider the matter, without elaborating.
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