HTC forecasts tough times continuing into Q4, reflects on Q3 'progress'

HTC's finalized Q3 earnings report confirms what we already knew from the unaudited report a few weeks back — the Taiwanese manufacturer had a pretty dire quarter, leading to an operating loss of just over $100 million, the first in the company's history.

Posting a quarterly revenue of NT$47 billion, with a gross margin of 20.4% and an operating margin of -7.4%, net loss was reported at NT$3 billion, earnings per share after tax were -NT$3.58.

Despite this, HTC CEO Peter Chou reflected on "strong progress" made in Q3 in a statement with today's release. The report highlighted the quarter's many product launches, including the Verizon HTC One, HTC One Mini, One Max, Desires 601 and 300, and yes, even the Hello Kitty Butterfly S. The quarter also saw HTC launch a new marketing campaign in partnership with Robert Downey Jr., which it credits for a 12 percent increase in advertising awareness and a 15 percent boost in brand awareness. Meanwhile the partnership with Beats Audio came to an end, with HTC selling its remaining stake in the company for $415 million. HTC's latest phone, the One Max, was launched last month without any Beats software or branding.

The company's Q4 forecast points to hard times continuing to the end of 2013, with revenue between NT$40-45 billion, gross profit margins of 20% +/-1% and EPS (earnings per share) of NT$0.1 to NT$1.7. The forecast raises the prospect of a second quarter of losses should HTC miss its targets by even a small amount.

Stock Talk: HTC's Q3 loss isn't good, but neither is it unexpected

Source: HTC Investor Relations, The Verge