Daily Brief TMT/Internet: Shibaura Electronics, Meta Platforms (Facebook), Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Tokyo Electron, Pureprofile Ltd, Hakuto Co Ltd, Solid State PLC and more

• A Nikkei article today suggested Minebea Mitsumi (6479 JP) would overbid Yageo’s dramatic 20% overbid of Minebea’s early ¥4,500 overbid of Yageo’s initial ¥4,300 bid for Shibaura Electronics (6957 JP). 
• Now the news is out. MinebeaMitsumi has bid ¥5,500. Shibaura Electronics has endorsed. This is bang-in-line with the expected path. The question is now YAGEO’s overbid, expected 7 May.
• If I were YAGEO, I would wait for Shibaura’s earnings a couple of days later, then overbid by ¥100-150 and go for 35 days. There’s optionality there.

• Minebea Mitsumi (6479 JP) has revised its tender offer for Shibaura Electronics (6957 JP) to JPY 5,500, representing a 1.9% premium over Yageo Corporation (2327 TT)’s JPY 5,400 hostile offer. 
• There are factors supporting Yageo again outbidding Minebea, and Yageo calling it quits. A revised Yageo could potentially touch JPY6,000, 40% higher than its first offer.
• The shares are trading 7.1% above Minebea’s offer, factoring in a fair chunk of the upside from an ongoing bidding war. Take profits as risk/reward looks unattractive. 

• Digital advertising has surpassed the days of “Mad Men” a while ago and thanks to AI, it seems even better positioned to unlock new markets and more opportunities.
• Meta is, of course, one of the companies leading this march.
• Here are my highlights from today’s call. Daily Active People (DAP) across its Family of Apps (FOA) accelerated to 80 mn QoQ in 1Q’25.

• On April 29, Intel hosted the latest in a series of “Direct Connect” events, this time focusing on the company’s Foundry progress and plans
• They talked about “ups and downs” with 18A, seeming to lower expectations for the process node which former CEO Gelsinger “bet the company on”. Lots of emphasis on 14A instead.  
• Foundry chief Naga Chandrasekaran casually announced that the company was “walking away” from Copy Exactly and “democratizing innovation” at the fabs to fix yield, reliability, predictability and cost challenges. Wow!

• Qualcomm Inc (QCOM US) 2Q25 (March-25) spot inline with expectations, 4Q guidance inline with expectations. Revenue growth is slowing down sharply in June. Consensus expects further slowdown in 2H25. 
• QCOM is losing iPhone modem, Android is not growing in units but chips become more expensive with AI, new revenue streams (AI PC, Auto, Industrial IoT) are not well understood. 
• The result is Consensus forecasting basically no EPS growth in FY26-27 and the stock is trading at 12x EPS, almost -1 standard deviation below average PEx

• In FY03/25, the company achieved revenue of JPY2.43tn, operating profit of JPY697.3bn, and net income of JPY544.1bn.
• For FY03/26, the company projects revenue of JPY2.6tn, operating profit of JPY727.0bn, and net income of JPY566.0bn.
• The company plans to increase R&D expenses to JPY300.0bn in FY03/26, up from JPY250.0bn in FY03/25.

• Pureprofile Ltd (ASX:PPL) is a data analytics and consumer insights company underpinned by proprietary technology, servicing business decision makers in brands and media companies as well as market researchers.
• On April 30, Pureprofile reported a 16% increase in Q3 FY25 revenue to $12.7m and a 16% increase in Q3 EBITDA to $0.6m versus the previous corresponding period (pcp).
• Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) revenue grew 10% on the pcp to $6.6m while Rest of World (RoW) jumped 24% to $6.1m, or 48% of total revenue.

• FY03/25 results: Sales JPY183.1bn (+0.6% YoY), Operating profit JPY7.9bn (+3.6% YoY), Net income JPY5.1bn (-0.9% YoY).
• FY03/25 forecast: Sales JPY186.0bn (+1.6% YoY), Operating profit JPY6.0bn (-24.2% YoY), Net income JPY4.9bn (-4.5% YoY).
• Hakuto’s medium-term plan targets sustainable growth by FY03/29, with Vision 2030 and Hakuto 2028 initiatives.

Solid State finished the year strongly, including the announcement of a £19m communications order and defence activity gaining momentum. This, combined with the restructuring and cost initiatives, suggests positive momentum going into FY26. This was after the well documented weakness in industrial markets and destocking affected the year to March 2025.