Zacks.com releases the latest Analyst Interview. Today’s interview is with Director of Small-Cap Institutional Research Ian Gilson, who discusses Sony (NYSE: SNE), Philips (NYSE: PHG), Hitachi (NYSE: HIT), Costco (Nasdaq: COST) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).
A synopsis of today’s Analyst Interview is presented below. The full article can be read at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678.
Aren’t plasma TVs the most expensive flat-panel types?
No, plasma is actually a less expensive technology. So for the same screen size, LCDs were more expensive. And when you get over 55 inches, LCD is still more expensive than plasma.
The LCD market is where the action is. It’s the fastest section in growth, and it is also the largest market. In ’07, we expect the market to exceed 70 million units and reach close to $70 billion on a world-wide basis.
It’s a segmented market, with tier-1 companies primarily being brand names that we all know, like Sony (NYSE: SNE), Sharp, Samsung, Philips (NYSE: PHG), Sanyo. Tier-2 includes, again, many brand names like Hitachi (NYSE: HIT), Lucky Goldstar, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Toshiba. These are names we recognize because of their consumer franchises.
Sure – for many decades now.
For many decades. Particularly Sony, for example, which is well-known for its quality. And they get a premium price because of that.
But the largest group and the largest growing group are companies that we have never heard of. Names that we do not know and have not known. One of which, for example, is Vizio. Vizio, in the past six months, has grown three to four times faster than anybody else in the industry. The reason is that they have gained a position in Costco (Nasdaq: COST) and in Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). If you walk into Costco, you’ll see Vizio after Vizio after Vizio. They are a privately owned Taiwanese company, and they are now the number-one supplier in the United States of LCD TVs.
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