Japan Precision and SPE: April-June 2026 earnings preview

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Precision and SPE: April-June 2026 earnings preview

JulyJapan

SPE sector: Investment opinion and earnings trends (as of June 30, 2026) 2026n Investment opinion — Front-end names bottomed in Sep 2025 and then swung upward. Investors priced in a $200bn WFE scenario, resulting in share prices Precision

doubling before FY3/26 results started. In March-May, materials/components stocks and memory stocks were preferred over equipment stocks, but front-end and

led SPE prices higher in June as investors priced in a $250bn WFE scenario. Ahead of April-June results, we expect renewed interest in back-end process

names, which have been laggards: we believe Advantest looks particularly attractive. Among front-end names, we favor Tokyo Electron. SPE

n April-June earnings forecasts — We expect earnings to be favorable overall. At TEL, we expect OP to increase QoQ and YoY and H1 guidance to be revised. At

Screen, we think FQ1 results are likely to be weak relative to peers because in FQ4 a large number of inspections were completed and shipments were

somewhat sluggish. At Lasertec, we think sales could increase rapidly in FQ4 and FQ1. Advantest has indicated that earnings will pull back in reaction to a large

guidance beat in March Q. However, sales to customers in Taiwan were extremely brisk through April-May, and sales and OP appear likely to increase QoQ.

n Events and shareholder returns — Earnings season kicks off with Disco’s preliminary data after the July 6 close. ASML and TSMC are scheduled to report

earnings in mid-July, and announcements by Japanese companies will start in earnest in late July. Also, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan