[Click eStock] "PSK, Gradual Performance Improvement in the Second Half"

On the 18th, BNK Investment & Securities forecasted that PSK's performance will gradually improve in the second half of the year as the semiconductor market hits bottom.

Lee Min-hee, a researcher at BNK Investment & Securities, explained in a report on the same day, "Sales and operating profit in the first quarter of this year decreased by 11% and 42%, respectively, compared to the same period last year, falling short of market consensus," adding, "This was due to delays in equipment delivery from customers caused by the deterioration of the memory market, and operating profit margin also remained at 13.5% due to the decrease in scale."

Researcher Lee Min-hee stated, "However, sales of PR Strip equipment for North American logic companies have steadily occurred even in the first quarter of this year, and the new Bevel Etch equipment is also continuously supplied for domestic DRAM," and forecasted, "Although the market has bottomed out, a meaningful recovery in sales levels is expected only in the second half of the year."

He analyzed, "Due to the sluggish semiconductor market, sales in the second quarter of this year are expected to slightly increase to 88.7 billion KRW," and added, "However, profitability is expected to improve further through cost reduction."

Furthermore, he said, "Currently, the new Bevel Etch equipment is supplied only to the DRAM production process, but it is currently being tested for Logic, and positive results are expected around the end of the year," and predicted, "The semiconductor market is expected to gradually improve in the second half of the year, and the company's quarterly sales scale will rise again to over 100 billion KRW."

He also noted, "The stock prices of front-end equipment companies tend to move in tandem with semiconductor chip manufacturers, and the company's stock price has bottomed out at the end of last year when supply chain inventory peaked," and forecasted, "Rather than quarterly performance momentum, the stock price will continue to rebound by raising the bottom in line with expectations for future market improvement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.