A key Asia stock index has gained its biggest lift in earnings projections in more than three years, as the region’s semiconductor firms benefit from the boom in generative artificial intelligence.
Also helped by robust second-quarter results across a wide range of industries, the average of 12-month earnings per share forecasts for companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific index climbed 3.9% over the past month, according to LSEG IBES data that collates analysts’ estimates.
It was a particularly sharp jump after downward revisions and smaller increases for the first seven months of this year.
Projections for South Korean firms surged 8% while those for Taiwanese and Japanese companies rose 5%.
Samsung Electronics, for example, forecast strong Artificial Intelligence-driven demand for chips this year after logging a more than 15-fold rise in second-quarter operating profit.
Taiwan’s TSMC, the wolargest contract chipmaker in the world , has raised its full-year revenue forecast.
“The upgrades in Asian companies’ earnings expectations are mainly due to upgrades in South Korea and Taiwan on the back of improving semiconductor earnings,” said Minyue Liu, an equity investment specialist at BNP Paribas Asset Management.
The data also showed forward 12-month EPS forecasts for Chinese firms have been lifted 1.5% in the past month.
“Many investors are choosing to ignore China even though some companies’ earnings have beaten market expectations,” said Elizabeth Soon, head of Asia ex-Japan equities at PineBridge Investments.
