PSK Achieves Record-High Sales in First Half... Continues Smooth Sailing in Second Half

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Hana Financial Investment evaluated on the 5th that PSK's performance improvement visibility is increasing due to overseas customer sales and smooth progress of new equipment.

Kim Kyungmin, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, "In the second half of the year, sales were realized mainly from numerous overseas customers," and added, "Semiconductor equipment supplier PSK achieved a record high sales of 221.2 billion KRW in the first half of the year, and it is expected that sales will be realized mainly from numerous overseas customers in the second half." He pointed out that a characteristic and strength of PSK is that nearly half of the annual sales amount comes from overseas customers. In the first half, the proportion of domestic customer sales was relatively high, and it is expected that the proportion of overseas sales will increase in the third quarter.

Most of the sales in the second half are estimated to come from the Dry strip equipment, which is the main product. The new product, Bevel Etch equipment, is also evaluated to be progressing smoothly in customer evaluations. Developed since 2017, it provides a solution for Edge Engineering in devices under 20nm, similar to Dry cleaning equipment. He said, "Since it is suitable for fine pattern devices, it is highly likely to be used from the customer's new fab as mass production equipment."

There is an analysis that the operating profit margin for the third quarter is likely to exceed estimates. Researcher Kim said, "The estimated sales for the third quarter (61 billion KRW) are larger than the sales in the third quarter of the previous year (50.9 billion KRW) but smaller than the sales in the second quarter of the previous year (64.9 billion KRW)," and added, "Considering that the operating profit margins in the third and second quarters of the previous year were 9.1% and 12.2%, respectively, the operating profit margin for this third quarter is estimated conservatively at 9.4%." He also added, "After the corporate split, a significant amount of R&D expenses related to the newly developed equipment at that time were already reflected in the cost in 2019?2020."