PETALING JAYA: Vitrox Corp Bhd
’s earnings are expected to continue being supported by rising demand from artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure rollout, 5G deployment, and electric vehicle (EV) applications.
The automatic vision inspection solution provider’s results for the third quarter of 2025 (3Q25) mostly came in within local research houses’ and consensus’ expectations.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Research (HLIB Research) said ViTrox’s 3Q25 core net profit of RM34mil (minus 6% year-on-year (y-o-y)) came in above expectations, bringing the earnings for the nine-month period of 2025 (9M25) to account for 82% and 77% of its and consensus full-year estimates, respectively.
“We view the results as above expectations, given sustained order momentum heading into 4Q25.
“The outperformance was driven by sustained order momentum across both the machine vision system (MVS) and automated board inspection (ABI) segments, with revenue hitting a record high, though tempered by higher taxation.
As of the end of 3Q25, the book-to-bill ratio held steady at 1.2 times, similar to 1.1 times in 2Q25 as order momentum remains strong,” the research house said in a report.
HLIB Research said ViTrox remains cautiously optimistic going into 2026, supported by stronger semiconductor demand across AI, 5G and EV applications.
“The group sees sustained backend equipment investment as fabs ramp on advanced packaging needs.
“Continued research and development spending would reinforce its product competitiveness, though management stays alert to near-term margin risks from foreign exchange volatility and geopolitical instability,” the research house said.
HLIB Research lifted its financial year 2025 (FY25) to FY27 earnings per share forecasts by 12%, 24% and 22%, reflecting stronger shipment assumptions across MVS and ABI.
The research house expects the effective tax rate to remain near the statutory level in FY25, before trending lower to around 10% in FY26 to FY27, assuming the renewal of its pioneer status.
HLIB Research upgraded its call for ViTrox to a “hold” call with a revised target price of RM3.90.
That said, HLIB Research said while its recommendation upgrade acknowledges ViTrox’s continued strength in orders and near-term execution, it views its current valuation as “demanding”.
“At the current share price, we believe the market has largely priced in sector optimism, stronger operational delivery, and the renewal of its pioneer status, with the latter representing a de-rating risk should it not materialise,” the research house said.
CIMB Securities, which also has a “hold” call on ViTrox with a higher target price of RM4.60, said the group delivered record quarterly sales in 3Q25, although this was partially offset by higher tax expenses following the expiry of its pioneer status on June 16, 2025.
It said the company remains optimistic in securing a new incentive in the second half of 2025 (2H25), supported by multiple new product launches slated for rollout during the period,” the research house said.
Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) Research said ViTrox’s 9M25 results came in above its expectations but fell short of consensus estimates.
“Pending further details from the upcoming Oct 24, 2025, briefing, we make no changes to our FY26 to FY27 earnings forecasts but lift FY25 estimates by 9% to account for the stronger-than-expected revenue,” Maybank IB said.
