ASMPT's stock soared 5.39% intraday, extending its recent upward trend.

The surge is driven by the company's announcement of divesting its wholly-owned subsidiary ASMPT NEXX to Applied Materials for US$120 million in cash, which allows ASMPT to shed its lower-margin front-end deposition equipment business and sharpen focus on backend packaging as its core strategic pillar. Additionally, ASMPT reported strong Q1 results with adjusted profit surging 193.5% year-over-year to HK$335 million and revenue up 32.0% to HK$3.97 billion, beating consensus estimates. Q1 orders also reached a record high.

Institutional sentiment remains supportive, with CCB International raising its target price to HK$190 and maintaining an Outperform rating, while Macquarie also assigned an Outperform rating. Analysts highlighted ASMPT's leadership in advanced packaging technologies such as thermocompression bonding.