Universal Display Corp(PANL)

A couple of years ago, I received a forwarded email from a friend. There were pictures about the future of the Internet search. It was a tablet-like device, and it used a transparent display. When you point it to a park or building, it will display brief information about the objects. Touch a tree or a floor, it will tell you the name of the tree, or the name of the company in it. It’s pretty much a do-it-all device. At the time I thought it was cool but the technology was still far away. But Samsung showed a transparent netbook at the 2010 CES which caught my attention and got me thinking that OLED display may come to us faster than we think.

The advantages of using an OLED display are high contrast, great viewing angle, energy saving, and thin & lightweight. Two most impressive advantages are that it can be made transparent, and flexible in forms. Although the disadvantages are that it is expensive, longevity is short, and manufacturers are still having problem making it at large sizes; I think they can be fixed over time. For now, most of the OLED products we see will be 10” or below, and used in mobile phones, MID, or Tablets. Samsung has been pushing this technology for a while, and I started to see more OLED phones this year; such as, Google Nexus One, HTC Desire/incredible, Nokia N8, Dell Lightning/Thunder, and more. Rumor has it that iPhone 4G or iPad 2G may use OLED display as well. 2010 looks like a great year for OLED companies.

Kodak, Novaled, LG Chem, UDC, Canon, Rohm... provide OLED materials.  UDC(Universal Display Corp) is the only public traded company who makes nothing but OLED materials. In another word, it should benefit the most when OLED industry turns green. UDC's customers include Samsung, LGD, Sony, Pioneer..etc. Samsung, LG, and Sony are more aggressive in using OLED than most others. Patents are essential in industry like this.  UDC currently possesses more than 1000 patents in this field. Its 1Q10 revenue increased almost 50% from last year, cut loss almost 50% as well. Based on my observations, I think that we are going to see a lot of OLED products from now on.