Advantest upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs analyst Shuhei Nakamura upgraded Advantest to Buy from Neutral with a price target of 8,100 yen, up from 6,000 yen. The firm now factors in the possibility that sales of high-end SoC testers, in which the company has a high market share, will expand more than it previously expected on the back of longer test times for semiconductors used in high-performance computing and AI applications. Goldman believes that strong demand for high-end SoC testers is likely to continue, and given that the earnings upcycle has only just begun, it thinks rising expectations for earnings will be a catalyst for share price gains.