By WIlliam Trent, CFA of Stock Market Beat
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the world’s largest contract chip maker, reported its worst monthly revenue in 20 months on Friday, but analysts applauded the figure as further proof that an industry glut is dissipating.
That is putting quite a spin on things. Last we checked, you have to sell more in order to reduce an inventory glut.
TSMC said its revenue in February hit NT$20.58 billion (US$624.2 million), down 14.3 percent compared to last year and its worst monthly revenue figure since it reported revenue of NT$20.11 billion in June, 2005.
Despite the poor showing, analysts said it was a strong figure considering February is a shorter work month, at only 28 days, and that a major holiday, the Lunar New Year, celebrated throughout Taiwan and much of Asia, also slowed work at TSMC factories. Last year, the Lunar New Year, which is usually a week-long holiday in Taiwan, was on Jan. 29. This year, the first day of the Year of the Pig fell on Feb. 18.
But according to Wikipedia, Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon (some sources include New Year’s Eve) and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. Since January 29 last year was a Sunday, much of the holiday last year would also have occurred in February.
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