Taipei - HTC, the Taiwanese smartphone maker, posted second-quarter profit that missed analyst estimates as the release of its flagship One handset failed to end a slide in sales.
Net income fell to NT$1.25 billion ($42 million) in the three months ended June, the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company said in preliminary earnings released today.
That is down 83 percent from a year earlier and compares with the NT$2.17 billion average of 19 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Taiwan’s largest smartphone maker, which has seen its stock slump 80 percent in the past two years, released the HTC One into the US in April, the same month Samsung Electronics put its flagship Galaxy S4 on sale.
New marketing plans and executive changes may help the company rebuild its brand after its global ranking fell to ninth behind Chinese handset makers ZTE Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co.
Revenue for the quarter fell to NT$70.7 billion compared with the NT$72.8 billion average of 21 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The company had forecast sales of about NT$70 billion.
HTC lost the early momentum of unveiling its HTC One in February prior to Samsung’s Galaxy S4 as a shortage of camera components forced it to delay shipments.
A smaller version of the flagship will be released this quarter, Bloomberg News reported last month.
HTC fell to ninth in the global smartphone market during the first quarter, with 2.4 percent share, according to data from Bloomberg Industries and IDC.
The stock rose 1 percent to NT$203 at the close of trade in Taipei today ahead of the earnings announcement, paring its decline this year to 32 percent.
The benchmark Taiex index has risen 3.9 percent this year. - Bloomberg News