Taiwan's AU Optronics Q3 net drops on weak LCD demand

TAIPEI Oct 23 (Reuters) - Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp (2409.TW), the world's No.3 LCD maker, posted on Thursday a sharp fall in quarterly profit, which came in well below market expectations as weaker demand hurt prices for its displays.

A supplier to top brands such as Dell Inc (DELL.O), Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) and Sony Corp (6758.T), AU (AUO.N) booked a net profit of T$860 million ($26 million) in the July to September quarter, the company said in a statement.

That was well below the T$22.57 billion profit a year earlier and T$20.39 billion AU earned in the previous three months.

Analysts had expected AU to make a third-quarter net profit of T$6.27 billion, according to the latest consensus forecast from 10 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

A global economic slowdown has taken a toll on demand for new computers and flat-screen televisions that use liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and it is widely expected that the display sector is not out of the woods yet.

AU's Taipei-listed shares fell 22 percent in the third quarter, in line with the main TAIEX index's .TWII fall.

Shares in smaller local rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp 3009.TW, whose quarterly earnings are due out on Friday, shed 38 percent during the same period. ($1=T$33.4) (Reporting by Baker Li, Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jonathan Hopfner)