ASM Pacific 522

[winston]

Not vested

DJ MARKET TALK: ASM Pac +1.0%; Good Results But Valuation Caps
Jul 30, 2010

1221 [Dow Jones] ASM Pacific (0522.HK) +1.0% at HK$72.30 on top of 10.4% post-results rally yesterday; probably starting in 2H09, investors had consistently feared ASMP's earnings peaking, yet blowout 2Q results against caught investors by surprise.

Fund manager says going forward ASMP results "would have to be pretty spectacular to bring it back to an appealing valuation given where the stock price is."

Separately, JPMorgan lifts target price to HK$80.00 from HK$74.00, notes new order booking of US$524 million, backlog of US$580 million both significantly above US$385 million, US$365 million at end-1Q, indicating "continuation of strong momentum."

Still, keeps Neutral call, prefers to wait for industry dip possible by year-end.


Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

Not vested

DJ MARKET TALK: DB Keeps ASM Pacific Sell; Booking Starts To Fall

0911 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Deutsche Bank keeps ASM Pacific (0522.HK) at Sell with HK$59.00 target; says U.S. semiconductor back-end book to bill ratio continued to trend down in August after peaking in March, back-end equipment booking started to drop in August.

Maintains view semiconductor back-end companies (over 50% of ASMP's sales) will continue to scale back orders for equipment makers in 4Q10, 2011 as result of front-end loaded capex pattern in 2010, weaker consumer PC, LCD TV demand outlook.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[Muhajir]

SMT equipment acquisition drove turnover to new height

Not vested-

May 04, 2011

Highlights
-- Record Group turnover of US$433.7 million, a surge of 89.6% over same period last year and a sequential growth of 27.9% against Q4 2010
-- Net profit of HK$675.5 million and earnings per share of HK$1.71, a surge of 44.8% over same period last year and a decline of 20.1% over the preceding quarter
-- Assembly and packaging equipment turnover of US$246.7 million, achieving growth of 34.3% over Q1 2010 and a decline of 14.3% against the preceding three months
-- Lead frame turnover of US$45.3 million, a decline of 11.8% against the preceding three months and a slight growth of 0.4% over same period last year
-- SMT equipment turnover of US$141.7 million, contributing to 32.7% of the Group's turnover
-- New order bookings of US$444.4 million, a sequential growth of 147.9% over the preceding quarter
-- Retained the world's No. 1 position in the assembly and packaging equipment industry held since 2002
-- Record cash on hand of HK$3.3 billion at the end of March 2011

Rest of the story @

EMS Now.com

[winston]

Not vested

DJ MARKET TALK: Daiwa Starts ASM Pacific Tech At Underperform

1024 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Daiwa starts ASM Pacific Technology (0522.HK) at Underperform with a target price of HK$72.00; "we do not see any structural growth ahead for ASM Pacific Technology's equipment business, and believe the stock's valuation is not yet cheap enough to get in."

In addition to forecasting a cyclical downturn in semiconductor capex, it says industry spending on wire bonders and die bonders peaked in 1H11 and expects replacement demand to remain muted over the next three to four years after substantial 2010-11 orders and on expectations capex will switch to flip-chip and advanced machines, where the company has little exposure.

It eyes no LED equipment sales catalysts over the next six to nine months amid low utilization and intense competition.

The newly-acquired SMT equipment division is the only growth driver, posting market-share gains and margin improvement, but it is unlikely to return ASMPT to positive top-line growth in 2012, it says. The stock is down 3.5% at HK$81.60.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

<Research Report>ASM PACIFIC (00522.HK) reiterated Underfperform, TP cut to $62 by BofAML

Bank of America Merrill Lynch lowers ASM PACIFIC (00522.HK)'s earnings per share forecast for 2012 and 2013 by 3% and 13% to $3.79 and $5.16, and cut its target price by 6% from $66.2 to $62 as cyclical correction came more severe than expected.

BofAML projects 30% potential downtrend over the next three to four months, on accelerating weakness in semi assembly capital expenditure.

ASM PACIFIC undoubtedly is a quality company with equity return of 23% in 2012, but it has high price-earning ratio of 24x and 17x in 2012/13.

ASM PACIFIC is reiterated Underperform.


Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

not vested

ASM PACIFIC (00522.HK) expects industry turnaround in 2013; profit margin to exceed 40%

ASM PACIFIC (00522.HK)'s Chief Executive Director Lee Wai Kwong expects the industry will turn around in the second quarter of 2013 and the profit margin of the company to bounce back above 40%.

The company's profit margin inched down quarterly by 2.4 percentage points to 30.6% and yearly by 3.4 percentage points to 32.1% last quarter.

Lee is positive on business outlook, stressing that the company will control costs and enhance automation in the future.

Lee projects full-year capital expenditure will be lower than US$100 million previously estimated by the company.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

not vested

DJ MARKET TALK: CS Cuts ASM Pacific Target To HK$67.50; Underperform

0938 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Credit Suisse lowers ASM Pacific's (0522.HK) target price to HK$67.50 from HK$73.50 and keeps the stock at Underperform.

It says ASM posted a weaker-than-expected profit decline of 20% on-quarter to HK$250 million in 3Q12, and its net profit in the first nine months of HK$733 million represented only of the 48% full-year consensus estimates.

CS notes ASM's order backlog dropped 30% on-quarter with the book to bill ratio at 0.66 at end-3Q12.

"Despite the share price weakness in the past few months, we believe the disappointment of ASM's weaker-than-expected margins in its A&P equipment business will lead to market-wide reduction of its medium-term forecasts and hence de-rating."


Source: Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

[winston]

not vested

*ASM PACIFIC (00522.HK) kept Overweight with TP$74 as revenue to rise 20%, with overly high share price - HSBC

HSBC Global Research quoted ASM PACIFIC (00522.HK) management's saying that the challenge in the demand still presents in short term, but from investors' opinions, as long as the cost structure gets improved, they are willing to wait at a cyclical low for another round of recovery.

Therefore, the Company is currently focused on the size of business restructuring.

The Bank expected that the operating margin can rise from 9.6% this quarter to 23.5% in the final quarter of next year.

If greater efforts can be put on cost control, the gross profit margin in this quarter is expected to rise from 30.6% last quarter to 40%, with income growth of 20%.

However, the valuation is high. Based on 2013 P/E of 13.8 times, the rating is maintained at Underweight with target $74.


Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

not vested

ASMI in $4.35b sale

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM International is selling up to a HK$4.35 billion stake in its local unit ASM Pacific Technology (0522), according to Reuters.

The controlling shareholder is offering 39.92 million ASM Pacific shares at HK$88.88 to HK$91.77 each to cash in up to HK$3.66 billion.

The price is equivalent to a discount of up to 8 percent to yesterday's close of HK$96.60.

The offering may be raised by another 7.5 million shares if an upsize option is exercised, bringing total gains for the 12 percent stake to HK$4.35 billion.

This is the first sizable share disposal of ASM Pacific since listing in 1989.

Source: The Standard HK

[winston]

ASM shows industry as profits and sales boom

Industrial equipment supplier ASM Pacific Technology (0522) yesterday announced an interim profit of HK$573.83 million, up 140.8 percent from the first half of 2013 and more than the HK$558.6 million it earned all last year.

Turnover rose 19.2 percent in the first half to HK$5.93 billion as sales of back-end equipment jumped 27.9 percent and surface mount technology equipment rose 9.7 percent.

Meanwhile, new-order bookings reached HK$8.07 billion, up 56.7 percent from the second half of last year.

The firm will pay an interim dividend of HK$0.80 per share on August 22, up from HK$0.45 distributed a year back.

Chief executive Lee Wai-kwong said third- quarter sales may grow by double digits, considering strong demand for back-end and SMT equipment, and good performance from the screen printing and process business that it bought in December for HK$1.32 billion.

Lee said the jump in booking numbers indicated a recovering market. The firm has also bought a plot in Singapore on which it plans to build its fourth plant in the city- state by 2016. ASM shares fell 1.04 percent to HK$86 yesterday after the results came out.

Source: The Standard HK