Earlier this year OLED was discussed as a possible stock for this board, currently it’s financials don’t reflect a Saul type stock but for those who are interested I think it soon may do so.
In a new Applied Materials report it states in 2015 70% of New Display Manufacturing equipment was LCD, the rest OLED. However, in 2016 that is now reversed with 70% being OLED and only 30% LCD.
This is the biggest shift in the market we have seen. Soon Universal Display Corporation could see this demonstrated in it’s financials. The stock is also up 50% since the Feb lows.
The closest thing to competition is a form of LCD called Quantum Dots. Now they bring the color gamit close to OLED but cannot be made on flexible displays. Also, OLED manufacturing investment and capacity is becoming significant which helps drive down costs and increase market share.
Though I have to admit my first reaction is to be very dubious. This makes a great story and the market clearly has bought into the story as indicated by the high P/E ratio. But the financials show at best a modest increase in revenue. If so many companies are switching to OLED technology, why is this not yet reflected in the financials statements?
I guess the worry is that they are losing the patents on this technology so others are entering the space or it has become DIY meaning it might not show up in OLED at all.
A
This is only for the watches. The same article also states Apple will be switching to OLED displays for their Iphones in 2017.
OLED technology is still fairly new and there are a ton of possible applications because of it’s physical flexibility. Think outside the box of traditional displays like TV’s and phones.
This is only for the watches. The same article also states Apple will be switching to OLED displays for their Iphones in 2017.
OLED technology is still fairly new and there are a ton of possible applications because of it’s physical flexibility. Think outside the box of traditional displays like TV’s and phones.
This article states that Apple may be thinking about only using OLED for a brief while on their phones until MicroLED is ready:
Foxconn is investing heavily in OLED manufacturing. I Doubt they would be spending huge sums of money on something that Apple will use for one generation of iPhones.
If so many companies are switching to OLED technology, why is this not yet reflected in the financials statements?<>
Othalan,
1. While the switching is most certainly happening, the volumes are still small in comparison to Samsung Display’s volumes of OLED’s 2. Samsung get volume discounts on older red emitters. UDC say they switching across to the higher margin newer emitters. (We will see soon if this is true) 3. Samsung bought a company that produces the unpatented ‘milk’ that the OLED emitters ‘chocolate’ (patented) bathe in. This cost UDC about $20mill in revenue as I recall.
So, as I said, this is an early stage opportunity for those interested in this kind of risk. 2017 should be the year that demonstrates if UDC can make serious money from all its OLED patents and manufacturing of OLED emitters. It would then most certainly be a Saul type stock.