67
Hoya
(TSE: 7741)
Japan
By delivering high-octane returns, Hoya has won over investors. Founded as a maker of glass crystal, Hoya is now the world's largest manufacturer of specialty glass plates used to produce chips and liquid-crystal displays. It's also a leader in carving lenses for point-and-shoot and cell-phone digital cameras, and does brisk business making lasers for medical equipment and parts for hard-disk drives. In the fiscal year through March, Hoya's net profit surged 18%, to $657 million—a record-high for the third straight year—on a 12% sales uptick, to $3.01 billion. Meanwhile, return on equity was 46%, and its share price is up roughly 20% in the past 12 months. Hoya's fortunes have risen along with such LCD makers as Sharp and Samsung Electronics, which have been rapidly churning out flat-panel PC monitors and TV sets. And while it's not clear whether Hoya will suffer due to falling prices of LCD TVs and monitors, the company's execs remain sanguine, certain that their stellar run will continue for now.
Company Info |
|
| 2005 Rank | 96 |
| Sales* ($ Millions) | 3,069.0 |
| Sales Growth (over prev. year) |
12 % |
| Profits* ($ Millions) | 674.2 |
| Return on Equity | 27.1 % |
| Total Return on Sales (12-mo.) | 46.1 |
| Share Price As of 5/31/06 | 38.16 |
| CURRENT MARKET INFO | TSE: 7741 |
| No. of Employees | |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| COMPANY WEB SITE > | |
*Trailing 12 months
Stock price data as of 5/31/06
DATA: Standard & Poor's Compustat
Related Articles
Company Snapshot
Hoya principally engages in information technology, eye care, and lifestyle refinement businesses. In the information technology business, the company manufactures and markets mask blanks and photo masks, which are indispensable to semiconductor production and photo masks for liquid crystal displays, as well as glass disks for hard disk drives in personal computers, and optical glass products for digital cameras and other optical equipment. The eye care business comprises vision care division, primarily providing eyeglasses; and the health-care division, which provides contact lenses, intraocular lenses for ophthalmological use, and hearing aids. In the lifestyle refinement business, the company manufactures and sells traditional crystal products, including jewelry, tableware, and decorative interior ornaments. Hoya operates mainly in North America, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and Brazil.
Data provided by 
