KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 11): Shares of UWC Bhd (KL:UWC) climbed to a more than one-year high after the company's fourth-quarter results beat analysts' expectations.
The counter rose as much as 11% or 33 sen to RM3.33, its highest since June 2024 in mid-morning trade on Thursday. At the closing bell, the stock was still up 9% or 27 sen at RM3.27 a share, valuing the company at RM3.61 billion, with 6.99 million shares done.
HLIB Research in a note on Thursday said UWC's core net profit of RM21 million for the fourth quarter ended July 31, 2025 (4QFY2025) came in above the expected RM14 million to RM16 million range.
"This brought FY2025 earnings to RM55 million, accounting for 114%/112% of our/consensus estimates," it said, adding that stronger-than-expected margin improvement and a favourable tax credit from reinvestment allowances boosted UWC's 4QFY2025 earnings.
The house left its FY2026 and FY2027 earnings forecasts unchanged, as it had already factored in meaningful margin recovery for the engineering supporting services provider in the semiconductor industry.
"We expect the ongoing sequential improvement to bolster investor confidence in UWC’s ability to deliver strong FY2026 earnings growth, supported by increased order flows from front-end customers. "
It expects successful execution in scaling front-end orders and margin expansion as key rerating catalysts for UWC. For now, it has maintained its 'buy' call on the stock, with an unchanged target price of RM3.30.