Struggling HTC’s Q1 2013: a mere $2.88 million in profit on $1.45 billion in revenue

The writing was on the wall when smartphone and tablet maker HTC reported devastating results for February 2013 (and only slightly better ones in March): its consolidated earnings for the first quarter of this year weren’t exactly stellar.

The Taiwanese company reported net income after tax of $2.88 million (NT$85 million) on $1.45 billion (NT$42.8 billion) in total sales for the first quarter of 2013. That’s in line with the unaudited results for 1Q 2013 HTC announced in April.

HTC’s gross margin was 20.3% and the operating margin came in at 0.1 percent. Earnings per share were $0.003 (NT$0.1) for the quarter.

“This was a pivotal quarter for HTC,” said HTC CEO Peter Chou in a canned statement. “In February our teams set a new standard for smartphones, launching the new HTC One. The reviews of fans and critics alike have been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to delivering on the promise of this device.”

In the fourth quarter of 2012, HTC’s earnings were only slightly better: the beleaguered consumer electronics giant brought in a mere $34 million in net income (NT$1 billion), the lowest profits it had recorded since 2004.

Well, that record has now been broken again. Will it swing to a loss next?

The Q1 2013 numbers indeed paint a bleak picture for HTC, which continues to struggle to compete against Apple, Samsung and others in the ultra-competitive global smart connected devices race.

HTC hopes that the rollout of the aforementioned HTC One and the HTC First ‘Facebook phone’ will turn things around, but the company is facing an increasingly uphill battle.

In today’s release, HTC did not comment on the reported shipment delays of the One smartphone.

The company’s outlook for the second quarter of 2013 is: revenue of roughly $2.37 billion (NT$70 billion) – which would be a decent jump – and a gross profit margin between 22 percent and 24 percent.

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Image credit: Sam Yeh for AFP / Getty Images