HTC hopes new phones to help boost Q2 sales 20 pct

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Top smartphone maker HTC (2498.TW) expects second-quarter revenue to rise more than 20 percent from a year ago as it aims to sell more own-branded phones, but the forecast came below market expectations.

High Tech Computer Corp (HTC) said on Friday it expected its revenue to reach T$34 billion ($1.12 billion) in the current quarter, falling short of a consensus T$35.5 billion forecast from 10 analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates.

"Under a more uncertain economic environment, we're being more conservative," Chief Financial Officer Cheng Hui-ming told investors and analysts at a conference call.

But Cheng said his company would launch a higher-end 3.5-generation smartphone in May, helping to boost sales. He also reiterated HTC's target for full-year sales growth of about one-fifth.

"This new product will be important for them and so far it seems like operators are interested, but HTC is still choosing to be more conservative in its forecast," said KGI Securities analyst Jennifer Liang, who rates HTC at "outperform".

Third-generation (3G) phones currently make up around 70 percent of the company's sales, but Cheng warned of a potential impact on its second-quarter sales if there are delays with the new mobile phones.

The company gave its outlook after the market closed on Friday, when HTC shares fell 1.64 percent to end at T$780.00, worse than a 0.47 percent decline on the main TAIEX index

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KGI Securities has a 12-month target price of T$885.00 for HTC, up 14 percent from its closing stock price.

HTC posted market-beating first-quarter net income of T$6.865 billion earlier this month, up 24 percent from T$5.539 billion in the same period a year ago.

In the past two years, the company has transformed itself from a pure contract manufacturer to a branded mobile phone company, and has achieved strong sales in Asia-Pacific and Europe, analysts said.

In addition to selling its own-branded smartphones, HTC still serves a clientele that includes T-Mobile (DTEGn.DE), Verizon (VZ.N), Orange, owned by France Telecom (FTE.PA), and NTT DoCoMo (9437.T).

(Editing by Baker Li and Edmund Klamann)