Omnivision Loses Customers

Barron's: Robert W. Baird analyst Tristan Gerra says that his checks in Asia find OmniVision “should lose most sockets at a key tier-one mobile phone OEM” in the second half of the year. He also reports that competition in the VGA sensor market is worsening, with ASPs as low as 60 cents.

“We see no catalyst for OVTI shares near-term as the normally seasonally strong October quarter should experience muted growth this year, followed by two seasonally weak quarters,” he writes.

Gerra also notes that Aptina is regaining share in both mobile phones and notebooks.

Update: Business Week adds that Gerra believes 3MP no longer represents a meaningful revenue catalyst for the company this year. Reuters quotes Robert W. Baird saying that the Chinese mobile phone market has further slowed down in July and August following initial weakness in the second quarter, hurting Omnivision's VGA sensor demand.