For the nine months ended Sept 30, the company reported a 33.7% y-o-y increase in earnings to $29.1 million. Revenue in the same nine months grew 37.2% to $223 million.
The company is maintaining its earlier guidance of hitting full-year revenue of at least $255 million and operating profit of $42 million – with the first three quarters’ already hitting $35.3 million.
However, AEM, whose main customer is semiconductor giant Intel, has also repeated its warning that beyond FY2018, it can’t be as confident about its business. That warning has prompted analysts to cut their forecast and target prices.
The company is planning to diversify though. Earlier this month, it announced an “initial order” from China’s networking giant Huawei, for its optical fibre cable-test solution.
AEM believes that via Huawei, which has big ambitions to supply so-called 5G mobile networking equipment (current mainstream is 4G), it will be able to tap into a “very meaningful” market for the next five years.
The company’s share price nearly halved at end July after it gave the uncertain outlook for FY2019.
From as low as 64 cents, AEM’s share price has since recovered to around 75 cents, as notable fund manager Aberdeen Standard Investments emerged as a substantial shareholder. Insiders like independent director Loh Kin Wah also bought shares from the market as well.
AEM shares closed on Oct 30 at 75.5 cents, down one cent.
