Goldman Sachs: Raises ASMPT Price Target by 3% to HK$183, Maintains "Neutral" Rating; TCB and Photonics Equipment Benefit from Generative AI Trend

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Goldman Sachs released a research report raising ASMPT's (00522) 12-Month Price Target by 3% from HK$177 to HK$183, while maintaining a "Neutral" rating. The bank holds a positive view on ASMPT's advanced packaging applications, believing they benefit from the technological shift towards smaller pitch sizes, as well as increased applications in GPUs, ASICs, and HBM. The bank expects the company's revenue in the third and fourth quarters to grow quarter-on-quarter by 5% and 3% respectively, reaching HK$5.172 billion and HK$5.325 billion, mainly driven by continued demand for AI servers boosting TCB and photonics equipment, as well as SMT equipment.

Goldman Sachs expects TCB demand to benefit from advanced logic and HBM applications, while pluggable optical transceivers remain the primary short-term growth driver for photonics equipment; Hybrid Bonding and CPO represent longer-term opportunities.

The bank raised its net profit forecasts for ASMPT for 2026, 2027, and 2028 by 4%, 6%, and 12% respectively, primarily due to a downward revision in the estimated operating expense ratio, reflecting a positive outlook on continuous improvement in Operational Efficiency.

Regarding valuation, Goldman Sachs used a discounted P/E method based on 2030 figures to raise ASMPT's 12-Month Price Target to HK$183, maintaining a target valuation multiple of 24.9 times the forecast P/E ratio for 2030. Considering that current valuations are reasonable, the bank maintains its "Neutral" rating.