Taiwan stocks, company revenues reach record highs: investors hope for bullish Year of the Ox

The Taiwan Stock Exchange is closed for the Lunar New Year holidays after finishing the Year of the Rat at a record high of 15,802 points, and record company revenues are boosting investor confidence for a bullish Year of the Ox.

The TWSE closed Friday, February 5, 3,683.69 points (30.4%) up from the close of trading the previous year – the Year of the Pig.

As company revenue reports flood in, investors are seeing record sales, revenues, and profits, on a monthly and annual basis.

The demand for education, e-sports, and commercial notebooks continues to be strong, favoring notebook manufacturers and the semiconductor industry.

Taiwan Semiconductor manufacturer TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) reported today, February 9, a January revenue of NT$126.749 billion (US$4.5 billion), up 8.0% from December, and 22.2% year-on-year.

As for Computer manufacturers, Quanta (TWSE: 2382) reported a consolidated revenue of NT$94.354 billion (US$3.37 billion) in January, a year-on-year increase of 49.87%; Inventec (TWSE: 2356), NT$39.382 billion (US$1.4 billion) in January, an increase of 34.05% from the same period last year; Acer (TWSE: 2353) January revenue, NT$23.495 billion (US$839.6 million), a year-on-year increase of 73.4%; Asustek (TWSE: 2357) January revenue NT$33.686 billion (US$1.2 billion), a year-on-year increase of 64.39%.

Quanta shipped 6.4 million laptops in January, 2.2 times higher than January 2020, after record sales of 7.1 million in December and 6.6 million in November; Inventec shipments reached 1.6 million units, an annual increase of 33.3%. 

Quanta remains optimistic on notebook shipments in the first half of 2021. Current visible orders for the first quarter, strong cloud server momentum, and new platforms scheduled for launch in the second quarter leaves Quanta optimistic of maintaining double-digit growth targets this year.

LCD panel producer Innolux (TWSE: 3481) reported a January revenue of NT$27.5 billion (US$982.7 million), a monthly increase of 1.9%, and 65.9% year-on-year.

High tech industries were not the success stories in the Year of the Rat: In the nuts and bolts economy, fastener manufacturer OFCO Industrial (TWSE: 5011) reported a January revenue of NT$285 million (US$10.18 million), a monthly increase of 5.18%, and a year-on-year increase of 291.35%.

Precision gear manufacturer KH Gears (TWSE: 4571) saw a consolidated revenue of NT$286 million (US$10.21) in January, up 122% from last January’s NT$129 million. KH Gears said that it had benefited from booming demand in the US housing market which drove up demand for power tools and gardening equipment. The past year also saw a surge in demand for sewing machines.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visited the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, Monday, to thank staff and brokers for their work over the last year. Tsai’s visit marked the first time a president has visited the exchange.

Not only investors and the business world benefited from activities at the exchange, government finances in the form tax receipts from stock trading reached over NT$150 billion (US$5 billion) last year the president said, noting that the Year of the Ox has not arrived, and it’s already a bull market on the Taiwan Stock Exchange

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