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| May 21st - 05:42 AM |
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With shipments of high-margin games console products down and quote reductions for mouse products, gross margin will fall below 40% to around 35-36%, according to Huang.
The Taiwan-based company is however, still bullish on the optical touch controller market and will enter the MEMS segment, Huang indicated, adding that 2011 sales should improve gradually each quarter.
First-quarter shipments of related component suppliers have been hampered by Nintendo lowering its shipment forecast for the Wii from 17.5 million units to 16 million units. Huang pointed out that the quarter ending in March is Japan's last fiscal quarter, and hence, Japan-based clients typically lower inventory for accounting purposes.
Pixart is projecting a 60% sequential shipment decrease for its games console product lines which will constitute 14% of the company's quarterly revenues, down from 28%, Huang said.
For mouse and optical touch controllers, Huang forecast that first-quarter performance will stay flat, but Pixart's overall revenues could still slip 20% sequentially.
Optical touch controllers currently represent 5-10% of Pixart's revenues, Huang indicated, noting that in the future, Pixart will focus on the 10-to-30-inch consumer electronics segment.
Huang believes optical touch technology has cost advantages in all-in-one (AIO) PC's large-size screens, but actual AIO shipments in 2010 were only 6-8 million units, much lower than the projected 12-14 million units. Moreover, Apple's AIO, which does not incorporate optical touch screen features, grabbed the largest market share, meaning shipments for optical touch AIO models totaled about 2-3 million units.
For optical finger mouse (OFM), Pixart began small volume shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010, and expects more substantial revenue contribution in the second half of 2011. Pixart has also developed MEMS technology, starting with the accelerometer segment. MEMS products should bring in revenues in 2011.
Pixart posted NT$3.979 billion (US$135.3 million) in revenues for 2010, up 6% from 2009. Net income came to NT$811 million or NT$6.29 a share on 44.3% gross margin.
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