Neil Hughes
LG Display reported its fourth straight profitable quarter on Monday with a year over year increase, but numerous reports took a negative spin on the news because of the company's close relationship with Apple.
It's believed that Apple accounts for about 30 percent of LG Display's revenue, which is why a number of outlets on Monday chose to focus on the iPhone maker following LG's earnings report. Apple will report its own earnings on Tuesday.
LG had an operating profit of 151 billion won in the first quarter, a major turnaround from the loss of 211 billion won the company saw a year ago. But a report from Reuters focused on LG's sequential, seasonal loss of 74 percent from the holiday quarter, and cited "weakened" demand for iPhone and iPad displays.
The report was not alone: London's Financial Times also made note of "concerns about falling sales" from Apple, while the Associated Press made claims of apparent "slackening orders" from the iPhone maker.
In contrast, the story was portrayed much differently by The Wall Street Journal, which focused on the fact that LG had "swung to a net profit in the first quarter." Reporter Min-Jeong Lee also cited "increased" sales of iPad displays to Apple.
For its part, LG said the quarter over quarter fall in profits was due to seasonally weak demand and adjusted orders made by customers.
LG also expects its panel shipments to increase between 5 percent and 10 percent in the second quarter of 2013. Market watchers view that as likely to be good news for Apple, given its large share of LG's orders.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook warned market watchers in January that they should not attempt to decipher sales of major products such as the iPhone with data from its suppliers. He noted that the supply chain is "very complex" and that Apple has "multiple sources" for various components.
"Even if a particular data point were factual, it would be impossible to interpret that data point as to what it meant for our business," he said.
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88 Comments
Hey LG makes screens for Google Nexus too, perhaps it was the model that didn't sell well and had to see its order reduced. But it has to be Apple who cut the orders, huh? Really, all three sources are simply speculating on what Apple might have done (if they did anything). The FT and Reuters say that was due to order cut. The WSJ says it's supplier diversification. So far, LG hasn't said anything, so it was a best an analyst's guesting game.
[quote name="zoffdino" url="/t/157103/lg-displays-profits-grow-but-reports-cite-weakened-demand-for-apples-iphone-ipad#post_2314494"]Hey LG makes screens for Google Nexus too, perhaps it was the model that didn't sell well and had to see its order reduced. But it has to be Apple who cut the orders, huh? Really, all three sources are simply speculating on what Apple might have done (if they did anything). The FT and Reuters say that was due to order cut. The WSJ says it's supplier diversification. So far, LG hasn't said anything, so it was a best an analyst's guesting game.[/quote] For all the doom and gloom the analysts and trolls shove onto Apple the fact that hardly any other company gets mentioned when these vendors have dozens if not hundreds of customers is proof that Apple still holds all the cards when it comes to mindshare.
Apple should not have any conference call this Tuesday.. everyone knows everything already? i mean they value the stock depending on what other company's report?
The story mentions the fact that Apple is responsible for 30% of LG's display business, so I don't think this is about mindshare. It seems clear that Apple will not have a great quarter (all of the supply chain indications are negative), but on the bright side, this seems priced into the stock at this point.
This is a drop from holiday quarter, yes? Then no poop Sherlock. Holiday is Apple's (any retails) biggest quarter. It's like 60% of yearly sales in that six weeks. Plus launch quarters are like 70-80% of sales for new iDevices. So of course demand is less now. Both for the devices and for screens. Particularly since Apple won't be ordering an extra 30-40% to make sure any fails for QA don't hold up unit production. But the analysts don't think of this and instead spin it like folks are buying the Note, Nexus, Surface instead. And THIS is that kills the stock. By itself and the implication that Apple could have sold more, no matter how much they sell.