Apple iPhone supplier AMS suspends dividend, skips full-year outlook

“AMS, which supplies Apple with sensors for its Face ID technology, disappointed investors with a 58 percent decline in fourth quarter core profit, its guidance and the suspension of a dividend payment for 2018,” Kirsti Knolle and Michael Shields report for Reuters. “The Austrian group shied away on Tuesday from a full-year earnings forecast after a downturn in 2018 results, saying shorter order cycles reduced visibility in a difficult market environment.”
“‘Given a market we are seeing that is very volatile and hard to read and also demand that is smaller than we had envisaged, we see first quarter sales of $350-390 million,’ Chief Executive Alexander Everke said at a news conference in Zurich,” Knolle and Shields report. “‘Certainly we see the second half of the year 2019 better than the first half,’ Everke said on an investor call, when asked about earnings prospects but did not give details.”
“AMS’ statement added to a bleak earnings season for semiconductor companies and further stoked fears of an industry slowdown after sales warnings from Apple, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor last month pointed to stagnating smartphone demand and a cooling Chinese economy,” Knolle and Shields report. “AMS provides Apple with optical sensors for 3D facial recognition features on its newest iPhones and has been hit by slow sales of the devices. Technological challenges have made it hard for AMS to reduce its dependency on Apple, which analysts estimate accounts for 45 percent of sales.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s always darkest before the dawn.
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Face ID sensor-maker AMS shrugs off second quarter loss with rise in new orders – July 24, 2018