Shares of AEM close 18.7% higher after Q1 net profit quadruples to S$14.3 million

[SINGAPORE] Semiconductor test solutions provider AEM Holdings jumped by over 13 per cent in intraday trading on Thursday (May 14) morning on the back of a year-on-year surge in net profit for Q1.

As at 9.04 am, the counter was trading 13.2 per cent or S$1.10 higher at S$9.45.

It eased to S$9.43 by 9.09 am, still up 12.9 per cent after three million securities changed hands. By 9.57 am, AEM shares were trading 11.9 per cent up at S$9.34.

The counter closed at S$9.91, S$1.56 or 18.7 per cent higher at the end of trading, after over 17.1 million shares changed hands.

The chip testing company on Wednesday posted a S$14.3 million in net profit for the first quarter ended Mar 31, more than quadruple the S$3.3 million in the year-ago period.

In a business update, the company raised its FY2026 revenue guidance by 20 per cent to between S$550 million and S$600 million.

Near an “inflection point”

DBS Group Research analyst Amanda Tan kept a “buy” rating on the stock, and raised its target price to S$11.80 from S$8.90. In the year to date, the company’s share price has soared more than four times.

In her report on Thursday, she increased DBS’ revenue forecast for AEM by 15 per cent and earnings forecast by 25 per cent for FY2026, to reflect stronger demand from fabless AI/high-performance computing customers, improving order momentum from PC/foundry customers, and margin expansion.

She also noted that there is scope for consensus earnings upgrades, to drive a positive share price reaction.

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AI boom: AEM quadruples Q1 profit to S$14.3 million, raises FY2026 revenue guidance by 20%

Jefferies analysts Joanna Cheah and Ang Wei Han have also reiterated their “buy” call on AEM, with the company’s Q1 net profit forming 33 per cent of their consensus estimates.

Sales guidance was also revised up from between S$460 million and S$510 million, to S$550 million and S$600 million for FY2026, they added. This was is almost entirely driven by their fabless customers.

Ang and Cheah added that such guidance is higher than the consensus estimate by 10 to 20 per cent.

DBS’ Tan believes that AEM is a pioneer in providing systems-level test (SLT) solutions and is currently around one generation ahead of its competitors.

“Given its technological superiority, we believe AEM is well positioned to ride on the growing SLT market, which has benefited from the increased complexity of chips and increased test coverage requirements, alongside the need for advanced heterogeneous packaging,” she added.

The analyst said the company is near an “inflection point”, and foresees its customer diversification strategy yielding more significant returns in the years ahead. The first deployment of its solutions to outsourced semiconductor assembly and test customers is expected in late-2026.