New York: GT Advanced Technologies Inc., a US supplier to solar manufacturers and energy-efficient lighting companies, rose to the highest in three months after announcing mobile device makers may use its sapphire technology.
Business | Technology
Shares of GT Advanced rise on sapphire use
Sapphires may replace glass on mobile phones and tablet
- Bloomberg
- Published: 17:54 August 18, 2012
GT Advanced, based in Merrimack, New Hampshire, gained 6.7 per cent to $6.55 at the close in New York, the highest price since May 2.
Sapphires may replace glass on mobile phones and tablets, chief executive officer Thomas Gutierrez said at a Canaccord Genuity conference on Friday. GT Advanced, which makes tools to grow sapphires, has sought non-solar applications for its technology as a global glut of panels reduced demand for systems that make polysilicon and photovoltaic wafers, Gutierrez said in May.
“They indicated that if 5 per cent of mobile phones and tablets adopt sapphire instead of glass, that would lead to demand for 5,000 tools, assuming 5 per cent penetration in 2016,” Jeff Osborne, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in New York, said in an email on Saturday. “Each tool is about $600,000 to $700,000. The stock in the past was always exposed to solar and LED. That appears to be starting to change.”
Osborne rates the shares a buy, with a 12-month price target of $8. Jonathan Dorsheimer, a Canaccord analyst in Boston, on Saturday upgraded GT Advanced to buy, raising his price target to $9 from $5.
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