[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Korea Investment & Securities analyzed on the 16th that now is the right time to buy TS E, as the memory market is approaching its bottom.
Park Seonghong, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, stated in a report on the same day, “TS E's consolidated 4th quarter sales are estimated to be 76.3 billion KRW, down 12.6% year-on-year, and operating profit is estimated at 11.5 billion KRW,” adding, “The 4th quarter is a seasonal off-season for both probe cards and interface boards, which likely decreased by 10.1% and 25.2% year-on-year, respectively.”
Park Seonghong further explained, “However, the building for manufacturing DRAM probe cards has been completed, and equipment installation is expected to be finished within the 2nd quarter,” and “If the quality from the client companies is secured without issues, sales of DRAM probe cards will be reflected starting from the second half of the year.”
He projected, “The DRAM probe card market of client companies is dominated by two companies, Japan's MJC and the US's Formfactor, so if there are no product performance issues, the demand for localization will be significant,” and “The DRAM probe card line can achieve sales of up to 20 billion KRW.”
He added, “With Intel's Sapphire Rapids unveiling as a turning point, the penetration rate of DDR5 is increasing, which is expected to benefit the ASP rise of DRAM sockets and interface boards,” and “Non-memory sockets are undergoing quality verification with various clients, so news about this may come out as early as the second half of the year.”
Furthermore, he analyzed, “Currently, based on this year's performance forecast, the price-to-earnings ratio (PER) is 6.7 times, which is undervalued compared to the global industry average of 10.4 times,” and “If concerns about the memory market have suppressed the multiple, now that the memory market is approaching its bottom, it is the right time to buy.”
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