FAST NEWS: Sunny Optical profits from strong vehicle lens demand

The latest: Smartphone camera lens producer Sunny Optical Technology (Group) Co. Ltd. (2382.HK) reported last Friday that shipments of its handset lenses rose 4.3% year-on-year to 94.47 million units in May, while its vehicle lens shipments rose 25.7% to 7.59 million units.

Looking up: The company said demand for vehicle lenses has increased as shortages of key components in the automotive supply chain have eased.

Take Note: While handset lens shipments were up year-on-year, they were still down 1.2% sequentially from the 95.6 million units shipped in April.

Digging Deeper: Founded in 1984, Sunny Optical is a leading manufacturer of integrated optical products and became the first Chinese optical company to be listed in Hong Kong in 2007. It has grown steadily since then on rapid development of the global smartphone market, and was selected as a component of the benchmark Hang Seng Index in 2017. But its business hit a turning point in 2021 as the smartphone market matured. The situation further deteriorated last year, with its revenue and profit falling 11.5% and 51.7%, respectively. However, CICC’s latest research report indicates that Sunny Optical is expected to benefit with the approach of the traditional peak season for cellphone sales, and maintained its “outperform” rating on the company.

Market Reaction: Sunny Optical shares fluctuated slightly on Monday and closed up 0.4% at HK$77.8 by the midday break. The stock now trades near the lower end of its 52-week range.

Translation by Jony Ho

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