Falling Apple Inc. (AAPL) Sales Affects LG Display Profits

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LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) (KRX:034220) (FRA:LGA) posted its weakest profit since the second quarter last fiscal. The profits of the company were affected due to the decline in demand of screens of iPad and iPhone’s somewhat confirming the talks going around that the demand of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was falling in the mobile market.

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LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) (KRX:034220) (FRA:LGA) posted a profit for the straight fourth quarter after the company ran into loss for massive seven straight quarters. The strategy adopted by the company was cutting over their output, which was in excess for over two years. The company also managed to come out of $211 billion loss in the previous year. However, the profit declined by 74 percent from the earlier quarter. The main reasons were declining demand from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and also seasonal slowdown in demands from elsewhere.

Orders from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) contribute about 30 percent of the revenues for LG Display. The concerns reached their heights when a U.S. supplier forecasted a gloomy outlook for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products demand, fueled by which the shares of the Asian companies along with LG dipped down sharply.

LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) (KRX:034220) (FRA:LGA) posted an operating profit of $135 million in the first quarter, from January to March, less than the average consensus of $147 billion by the Thomson Reuters poll of analysts. In the display segment, LG display competes with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) worldwide.

LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) (KRX:034220) (FRA:LGA) tablet and smartphone panels, which are also used for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s products, accounted for 27 percent of total screen shipments for the first quarter compared to 31 percent in the last quarter.

However, the earnings of LG are poised to improve in the future quarters, which will get support of the new devices planned to be rolled out from iPhone makers. The analysts also expect that the demand of LG’s device screen will also increase in the coming quarters. The company also told on Monday that it expects panel shipments to improve by 5 percent to 10 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter.

It is estimated that the revenue of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will surge merely 8 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2013 due to declining sales as per the estimates of the analysts.

Samsung Securities analyst, Harrison Cho said that he is looking forward to the possibility that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will launch cheaper iPhone’s around July, which will in turn increase the demand of LG display’s screen for the device in June.

LG Display Co Ltd. (ADR) (NYSE:LPL) (KRX:034220) (FRA:LGA) shares have lost about 3 percent year to date, compared to about 5 percent drop in in the benchmark KOSPI index. Prior to the earnings announcement, stock closed at 2.2 percent high.

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