HTC, Asia’s second-largest smartphone maker, posted operating income that was lower than analysts’ estimates as a lack of new models prompted a loss of market share.

Fourth-quarter operating income for the period was 600 million Taiwanese dollars compared with the NT$1.11 billion average of analyst estimates.

Net income was NT$1 billion. That’s the lowest since 2004 and less than the NT$10.9 billion it posted a year earlier.

Apple’s iPhone 5 and new Galaxy models from Samsung took market share away from HTC, which lacked new offerings for most of the quarter.

HTC’s stock dropped 40 per cent last year and the company replaced its chief marketing officer after its global share in smartphones dropped by more than half. Revenue dropped 41 per cent to NT$60 billion. HTC in October forecast sales of that level, the lowest in 11 quarters.

HTC climbed 0.35 per cent to close at NT$288 yesterday in Taipei before the earnings announcement.

“There were no strong products for HTC in the fourth quarter, so it will be the bottom of their sales and earnings,” Richard Ko, an analyst at KGI Securities who last week upgraded the stock to outperform from underperform, said before the announcement.

“New products such as Butterfly should start to have an effect on their results this quarter.” The company’s Butterfly J smartphone ranked 10th in Japan in the December 17th-23rd sales period, CNA reported, citing researcher BCN. The company also is expected to release a new smartphone this quarter.

During the period, the company announced it had settled all patent cases with Apple and agreed to a licensing deal. That pact would not have any adverse financial impact on the company, it said.

HTC’s share of the global smartphone market dropped to 4.6 per cent in the third quarter from 10.3 per cent a year earlier as Samsung’s lead widened, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. – (Bloomberg)