What They Say
LG Display had a good Q4 with revenue up 11% on a quarterly basis on strong demand for TV and IT products to $614 million. Operating margin was 9% with EBITDA margin at 24%. Area shipment was up 5% on the quarter to 8.7 million m² while ASP rose by 12% on the quarter and by 30% on a year ago. IT products were 37% of sales, with TV at 29% with mobile and others accounting for the rest (34%). TV OLED shipments were 1.6 million, up 50% on a year ago as production from Guangzhou develops.
In its investor call, the firm said that it expects area shipment to be flat in Q1, with ASPs declining by an ‘upper single-digit’ amount. It expects 7 to 8 million OLED TV panel sales in 2021. This will be supported with 80,000 substrate capacity in Paju and 60,000 in Guanzhou, monthly. Some work has been done in China to give a potential uplift of 30K substrates per month, so that could be developed if needed.
It’s no surprise that the mobile business will focus on flexible OLEDs.
Looking ahead, LGD expects some loosening of supply tightness, but it will depend on the impact of Covid on the demand for TV this year. That may affect decisions about what LCD panels will be made and fab allocations.
What We Think
The company talked down miniLED, unsurprisingly. This was a good performance, but largely because of market conditions. (BR)
