Weak domestic demand, combined with cost and exchange-rate pressures, weighed on third-quarter revenue across the four leading white goods makers, while their profit performance diverged sharply. Goldman Sachs expects the sector overall to return to year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter, though domestic improvement will mainly reflect a low base.
Daqo and Tongwei shipped more than Goldman Sachs expected in the third quarter, but per-unit losses and weaker gross margins show that operating pressure persists. Goldman expects high inventories and a lack of consensus on joint production cuts to limit a fourth-quarter price recovery.
Higher fiber prices and an improved product mix drove YOFC’s third-quarter growth, but gross margin fell from the second quarter. Nomura raised its earnings forecasts for the next three years while sharply cutting its valuation multiple.
China Merchants Securities’ third-quarter net profit rose 81% year on year but fell 10% from the previous quarter. Bank of America believes most investment gains from ChangXin Technology’s listing were one-off and expects earnings momentum to weaken in the fourth quarter.
FMC hopes to restore channel restocking through inventory repricing and maintains its 2027 earnings recovery guidance. Citi raised its 2027 earnings forecast but sharply cut its cash flow expectations because of lower collections, maintaining a Neutral rating.
Weak IT demand and falling OLED prices weighed on third-quarter results. Citi cut its earnings forecasts and target price; customer qualification of glass substrates is progressing, but revenue contribution is expected to be limited in 2027–2028.
Morgan Stanley cuts its earnings forecasts for Hesai and widens its loss forecasts for RoboSense, but sees sensors and data services as potential long-term growth sources for both companies.
Microsoft’s latest voluntary departure program is offered to approximately 60 thousand employees. Wells Fargo estimates that if one-third accept and savings begin to materialize at the start of 2027, the fiscal 2027 operating margin could benefit by approximately 1 percentage point, helping offset depreciation and amortization pressure.
Applied Materials plans to increase its stake in Besi through an accelerated share purchase agreement and expand their collaboration into new interconnect architectures. Wells Fargo believes this aligns with the company’s direction of expanding its advanced packaging business.
Alphabet’s third-quarter cloud revenue rose 103% year over year, but search, YouTube advertising and other businesses fell short of market consensus, as did consolidated operating profit and earnings per share.
The central bank has launched a third round of the Securities, Funds and Insurance Companies Swap Facility and cut the interest rate on relending for share repurchases and stake increases. Nomura believes the policies show concern about sustained stock-market declines and leverage risks, but says their impact should not be overstated because both tools have been in place for two years.
KLA’s revenue and earnings per share both exceeded market consensus in the September quarter, and the midpoint of its December-quarter revenue guidance reached $4.7 billion. China was the largest source of revenue in the quarter and also a significant risk exposure highlighted by Evercore ISI.
The company’s third-quarter revenue and operating profit were 14% and 8% below market consensus, respectively, while bonding equipment sales fell forty percent quarter on quarter. Morgan Stanley believes growth in HBM output may not lead to a corresponding increase in investment in new bonding equipment.
Apple plans to launch basic AI features powered by Qwen in China in December 2026. Citi believes the system-level entry point could help Alibaba expand model usage and potentially generate cloud inference demand, although the initial range of devices and features will be limited.
Week 8 tracking shows that delivery waits for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup generally shortened, while Duo delivery dates remained at January 2027. JPMorgan believes Pro lineup demand volumes may decline year over year, while price increases and demand for the higher-priced Duo will support revenue growth.
Vertiv’s third-quarter revenue and profit exceeded market expectations, and organic orders more than doubled year over year. Evercore ISI believes capacity coming online and improved backlog execution could drive 2027 growth above the previous framework; however, quarterly revenue also benefited from the recognition of projects delayed from the prior quarter.
In the third quarter of 2026, Fastprint’s net profit far exceeded Nomura Orient International’s expectations. The firm raised its earnings forecasts for the next three years while cutting its target price from 39 yuan to 37 yuan.
AI investment is driving South Korean exports and economic growth in Taiwan, while Citi also sees mounting financing pressures in non-AI emerging markets. China’s PMIs broadly weakened in October, while the Bank of Japan held interest rates steady.
Gates’ third-quarter adjusted earnings per share exceeded JPMorgan’s expectations as North American industrial demand recovered and data center revenue grew; however, investment weighed on hydraulics margins, and cost pressure remains in the fourth quarter.
Roblox’s peak concurrent users fell 7% week over week, with its most popular games continuing to decline. JPMorgan believes fourth-quarter bookings guidance may be conservative, but growth investments and margin pressure continue to constrain its rating.
