Sharp Corporation headquarters (via Corbis & Sharp)
The Sharp Corporation has reported significant losses totaling 1.4 billion US (1.7 billion Yen) for the financial year 2012. The company states restructuring costs as well as projected earnings for their LCD television as the reason for their shortcomings. Sharp is currently converting their Kameyama No.2 Plant to produce mobile LCD’s over the larger ones made for TV screens and monitors which were also cited as another reason for their financial decline. While the monetary loss is stifling, it hasn’t impacted the company’s recent innovations.
On the contrary, their R&D laboratory is breaking new barriers with technology such as the MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy) 3D printer which is capable of printing a complete circuit one molecule at a time. Other innovations include developments with CMOS/CCD camera modules, Systems LCD’s that feature circuits integrated onto super-thin 0.68mm thick displays (found on the 3D Aquos phone) as well as the development of integrating solar-panels in future generations of cellphones. The company is also advancing research into areas such as advanced optoelectric devices which take advantage of adaptive lighting that adjusts itself according to the amount of sunlight in the area. Other research is being centered on Semiconductor Quantum Dots (SQD) which are nano-sized superconducting crystals with tunable optical properties. These could be incorporated into solar-panels that can adjust themselves depending on the amount of light being harvested resulting in an efficiency boost. So while the company has taken a black-eye for the current fiscal year, they are still a super contender in the electronic innovation community.
Buying stock in Sharp might be a good idea at this point. Buy low, wait for a tech development and sell.
Cabe
