Apple's success is good for Wi-LAN, says Garcea

“From our coverage perspective, we believe Apple and Samsung’s successes should be positive for Wi-LAN as it looks to settle with both companies in patent infringement lawsuits involving Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, 4G/LTE and digital TV technology,” Northland analyst Ralph Garcea said in a note.Northland Capital Partners mentioned Wi-LAN (TSX:WIN) and Research in Motion (TSE:RIMM)(NASDAQ:RIM) in its recent note on quarterly earnings from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung.

“We believe RIM will continue to be pressured by Apple and Samsung smartphones and tablets.”

RIM is not rated by Northland but tech patent-firm Wi-LAN is rated at “Sector Outperform” with a $5.34 target.

Last week Apple reported fiscal fourth-quarter EPS of $8.67, revenue of $35.96 billion and gross margin of 40 per cent.

Shipment of Apple iPhones grew 58 per cent year-on-year compared to market estimates for 45 per cent growth in the overall smartphone market, Garcea wrote in the note.

Apple launched the iPhone 5 in nine countries on September 21. The company noted that the demand for iPhone 5 continued to outstrip supply ending the quarter with 9.1 million units in inventory. iPad shipments grew 26 per cent year-on-year ahead of expectations with strong growth in every geographic region; AAPL ended the quarter with 3.4 million iPad units in inventory.

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Mac shipments grew 1 per cent versus market estimates of 8 per cent growth. There was an overall contraction in the global PC market as portable sales grew 9 per cent and represented 80 per cent of Mac unit mix driven by strong sales of MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

iPod shipments were down 20 per cent at 5.3 million units.

Apple expects first-quarter revenue of $52 billion and noted new products or repriced versions represented over 80 per cent of total expected quarterly revenue. Gross margin of 36 per cent – consensus is 43.2 per cent – are expected to decline about 400 basis points quarter-on-quarter due to high volumes of new product releases that carry lower gross margin and lower pricing on iPhone 4 and 4S as well as aggressive pricing on the iPad Mini.

The company expects iPhone 5 demand to remain strong, the Northland analyst added.

Meanwhile, Korea’s Samsung reported third-quarter revenue of 52.2 trillion won – US$47.7 billion and operating income of 8.1 trillion won – US$7.4 billion.

Samsung is the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips, smartphones and TVs.

The Mobile Communications Business posted 26.3 trillion won in revenue for the quarter, accounting for more than 50 per cent of Samsung’s total revenue.

Samsung shipped approximately 57 million smartphones in the third quarter for a 35.2 per cent market share versus Apple shipping around 27 million iPhones for a 16.6 per cent share, according to Strategy Analytics.

Despite reporting its best quarter ever, Samsung was cautious on its Q4 outlook given the increased competitive environment, Northland’s Garcea noted.

Joyanta Acharjee
Proactive Investors
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