LG Display sees an uptick in profits, but it may be a few quarters before its OLED unit turns a profit.
LG Display has released its third-quarter earnings, posting a healthy increase in profits. Operating profit saw a massive 81% hike from the same period a year ago to $519 million (586 billion won). Net income at $422 million (477 billion won) was 152% more than what the company managed in Q3 2016. That said, overall revenue increased by just 4% from Q3 2016 to $6.1 billion (6.9 trillion won).
Most of the revenue is from LCD sales, but LG's OLED panels are gaining momentum. The company noted increased demand for its OLED TVs (which are excellent), coupled with an uptick in mobile OLED displays. TV panels made up 40% of the company's revenues, with mobile devices accounting for 27%, tablets and notebooks PCs at 17%, and monitors at 16%.
OLED panels on the whole account for just 10% of the company's overall revenues, and that's set to see an increase to 20% next year. From CFO Don Kim:
LG Display plans to focus on investing in OLED products as part of its long-term preparation for the future. We will continue to maximize profitability in our differentiated LCD products, and will improve the profitability of the OLED business through expansion, under the conservative assumption that the challenging market situation will continue.
LG's OLED panels have been under scrutiny of late because of the irregularities with the Pixel 2 XL's display, which won't help matters for the company as it tries to take the fight to Samsung. Over the last week, we've found that the Pixel 2 XL has issues ranging from screen burn-in to a blue tint across the panel and muted colors.
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