Screen Holdings: 7733.T T.7735 JP / EQUITY: JAPAN SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT

Research evidence excerpt

Global Markets Research

Screen Holdings

18 August 2026

7735.T 7735 JP / EQUITY: JAPAN SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT

We raise our forecasts on market factors, keep our Neutral

rating

Rating

Remains

Production likely to be close to full capacity in 27/3 H2, but we think company will be able

to cope with rising demand through efficiency improvements

Increased from 11,600

We adjust our forecasts to reflect upward revisions to WFE market outlook, keep

our Neutral rating

We raise our forecasts for Screen Holdings, mainly to reflect revisions to our WFE market

growth forecasts (to 28% for 2026, 22% for 2027, and 20% for 2028), following similar

updates to our forecasts for other Japanese front-end equipment companies in July. We

forecast SPE sales growth close to the WFE market average when excluding the impact

from projects pushed back from 26/3 H2. We forecast advanced packaging–related sales

growth of around 20% in 27/3, but this is lower than at other SPE producers in Japan and

overseas, and we think Screen Holdings could outperform the WFE market if it is able to

catch up with rivals. We roll forward the base year for our target price calculation from 28/3

to 29/3, as with other SPE companies, and we raise our target price.

We see little upside for sales of new systems in 27/3 but regard guidance as

achievable

Operating profits compared poorly to full-year guidance in 27/3 Q1, but we expect the

company to book sales of just over ¥20bn in Q2 on equipment for a DRAM project in

China that had been pushed back. We assume this is a high-margin project, and think the

company will be able to achieve H1 profit guidance. While we still see upside for postsales revenues, we forecast full-year equipment sales in line with guidance as the

company has already filled up production lots for new equipment for H2. Given the scale

of sales growth, we think 27/3 guidance is slightly conservative in terms of margins. While

we expect the new medium-term business plan starting in 28/3 to call for margin

improvement, we see a risk that costs will continue to rise by more than expected, as the

company will need to increase capacity at a faster pace than we previously assumed.

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