Taiwan-based optical disc drive (ODD) maker Lite-On IT has announced consolidated revenues of NT$17.65 billion (US$585.02 million) for the third quarter, a new historical high and growth of 11.9% on quarter and 22.5% on year, with net profit reaching NT$1 billion and earning per share (EPS) reached NT$1.04.

Lite-On pointed out that its excellent performance in the third quarter was mainly benefited by strong demand for ODD and game console. Due to the company's increased market share and no competitor has joined the industry, both the company's half-height ODD models and slim ODD models have enjoyed over 10% of shipment growth in both on-quarter and on-year basis.

The company's combined consolidated revenues for the first three quarters of 2011 reached NT$47.4 billion with EPS at NT$2.55. For 2011, the company's overall revenues are expected to break its own record of NT$58.7 billion in 2010 and will try to challenge NT$60 billion.

As for gross margin, Lite-On achieved growth of 1.1 percentage point in the third quarter, helping the company's percentage to reach 18.4%.

For the future, although Lite-On may see a sequential drop of around 10% in fourth-quarter revenues, it is unlikely to be worse than those in the first quarter of 2011 or the fourth quarter of 2010.

Lite-On currently has over 80% of its revenues contributed by its regular ODD business with gaming ODDs accounting for 10%, ODDs for car electronics accounted for more than 5% and solid state drive (SSD) business at less than 5%; however, the company is most optimistic about its SSD and car electronics ODDs' future potential.

Source:digitimes