ticker: 7735.T layer: L1-WFE verdict: yellow verify_date: 2026-05-28

SCREEN Holdings (7735.T) — Graham Screen

Verified: 2026-05-28 | Sources: yfinance, SCREEN IR, Investing.com earnings transcript


1. Price & Returns

Metric Value
Price 11,030 JPY (last: 11,220 May 27)
52w range 4,951 – 13,155 JPY
YTD ~-7% from ~11,900 Jan open
1Y +110% (reflecting stock split-adjusted base)
5Y +385% vs ~2,280 JPY May 2021
Stock split 2-for-1 effective March 30, 2026
JPY/EUR ~162.5 (1 share ≈ EUR 67.88)

2. Valuation Multiples

Multiple Value Comment
Trailing P/E 22.7x FY2026 EPS 486.95 JPY
Forward P/E 19.0x FY2027 guide EPS 581.74 JPY (IR)
P/B 4.29x Book 2,573 JPY/sh
P/S 3.44x Rev 605.7B JPY TTM
EV/EBITDA 12.5x Net cash heavy; EV = 1.90T JPY
Div yield 1.59% FY2027 guide 175 JPY/sh
Payout ratio 30% Conservative; room to grow
Beta 1.57 Cyclical

3. Balance Sheet (March 31, 2026)

Item JPY bn
Cash + ST investments 200.4
Total debt 4.6
Net cash 195.8
Working capital 240.3
Current ratio 2.28
LT debt (excl. leases) 0.8
Equity 420.6
Interest coverage ~1,000x (trivial debt)

Balance sheet is fortress-quality. Net cash 195.8B JPY = ~9.4% of market cap. LT debt is immaterial.


4. 5-Year Income & FCF

FY (ends Mar) Revenue JPY bn EBITDA Net Income EPS FCF
FY2022 411.9 66.6 45.5 231.5 71.6
FY2023 460.8 87.5 57.5 296.3 53.1
FY2024 504.9 105.2 70.6 304.1 55.9
FY2025 625.3 151.7 99.5 362.8 45.7
FY2026 605.7 151.7 92.0 487.0 ~40-46 est
FY2027 guide 725.0 ~180E 110.0 581.7

Note: FY2025 = year ended March 31, 2025; FY2026 = year ended March 31, 2026. Revenue CAGR FY22-26: 10.1% | EPS CAGR FY22-26: 20.4%

Segment mix (FY2026):

SPE dominates entirely. The other segments are low-margin noise.

FCF declining: FY22 was peak cycle; FY24-26 FCF compressed by heavy capex (new fab capacity, R&D facilities). FY2027 capex guide 43B JPY same as FY2026.


5. Dividend History

Year DPS (JPY) Notes
FY2020 15
FY2021 33
FY2022 147 +345% — China boom surge
FY2023 133 Interim 41.75 + final 91.25
FY2024 130 60 + 70
FY2025 155.5 61.5 + 94
FY2026 146.5 Full year paid
FY2027 guide 175.0 +19% increase guided

Consecutive years: 6+ uninterrupted, growing. However the violent swings (15 → 147 → 130 → 175) track the WFE cycle closely. Not the stable Nestlé-style dividend Graham assumed; this is a cyclical payout.


6. Insider Transactions (12mo)

No open-market purchase or sale data available through Western data providers for Japanese corporates. Leadership transition announced: Toshio Hiroe → Chairman; Masato Goto → President/CEO; Yoichi Kondo continues as CFO. No reported large insider selling flagged in public sources. NEUTRAL — insufficient data; Japan disclosure norms differ from SEC Form 4.


7. Analyst Coverage

Metric Value
Consensus 8 Buy/StrongBuy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell (15 analysts)
Mean PT 12,790 JPY (+16%)
Median PT 12,000 JPY (+9%)
High PT 18,200 JPY
Low PT 9,500 JPY
90d revision Stable — no major PT cuts (16 analysts reduced PTs post-peak Feb, but consensus held)

8. Last 2 Earnings

Q4 FY2026 (reported May 2026):

Q3 FY2026 (Dec 2025 quarter):

Pattern: Three straight quarters of EPS misses vs consensus before Q4 beat. Revenue consistently missing. EPS beat in Q4 driven by margin management, not revenue strength.

FY2027 management guide:

China revenue: 38% of FY2026 sales (~230B JPY). Management guides China to "stabilize mid-to-high 30% range." Export control impact estimated 10-15% on China investment if enacted — "not at all certain, timing unclear."

Customer mix: HBM/memory focus (SK Hynix, Micron), TSMC advanced node, Samsung. Management: "record high order in SPE in Q4" and "record high post-sales revenue." Order intake outpacing deliveries → FY2027 has visible backlog.


9. News Last 90d


10. Cycle Context

SCREEN's SPE orders are heavily exposed to: (1) memory HBM ramp (strong through 2026), (2) TSMC advanced node (N2/N3 ramp continuing), (3) China legacy node (wild card — may have peaked given controls). The "record Q4 order intake" is bullish for FY2027 delivery visibility. However:


Graham's 7 Filters

# Filter Result Detail
F1 Mkt cap > USD 2B PASS USD 14.6B
F2 Current ratio ≥ 2.0, LT debt < WC PASS CR 2.28; LT debt 0.8B vs WC 240B
F3 Positive EPS 5-10y PASS All 5 years positive, accelerating
F4 Dividend uninterrupted PASS 6+ consecutive years
F5 ≥33% EPS growth 5y PASS +110% cumulative (FY22→26)
F6 P/E ≤ 15 (≤20 quality) FAIL 22.7x trailing, 19.0x forward
F7 P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 FAIL 22.7 × 4.29 = 97.1

Score: 5/7. Fails on both valuation filters — and not narrowly.

shr-017 Peak-Cycle Trap Check: F5 passes on a 5Y EPS CAGR of 20.4%, but FY2022-FY2024 benefited from the extreme China build-out (China 43% of sales in FY2024 vs 19% prior). FY2026 revenue declined 3.1% YoY. The trailing EPS of 487 JPY may be near-peak-cycle normalized earnings, not trough earnings. Passing F3/F5 on cyclically inflated numbers is exactly the trap shr-017 warns against.


Graham Intrinsic Value (V = EPS × (8.5 + 2g))

Growth IV (trailing 487) MoS IV (fwd 582) MoS
0% 4,139 JPY -62.5% 4,945 JPY -55.2%
3% 7,061 JPY -36.0% 8,435 JPY -23.5%
5% 9,009 JPY -18.3% 10,762 JPY -2.4%
7.5% 11,443 JPY +3.7% 13,671 JPY +23.9%
10% 13,878 JPY +25.8% 16,580 JPY +50.3%

Break-even growth (trailing EPS): 7.1% — the market requires 7.1% perpetual growth just to be fairly priced at current EPS. Break-even growth (fwd IR EPS): 5.2% — if FY2027 guide delivers, fairly priced at ~5% growth.

Context: SCREEN's 5Y EPS CAGR was 20.4%, but this is cycle-inflated. A "normalized" through-cycle EPS growth for a mature WFE supplier is probably 8-12%. The break-even at trailing EPS (7.1%) is within realistic range — but offers zero margin of safety at trailing earnings. At forward earnings, a 5.2% break-even is achievable but requires the FY2027 guide to actually land, which itself requires no incremental China control tightening and a continued HBM capex wave.


shr-020 Red Flag Check

Category Signal Status
Recent price action +110% 1Y; down 16% from 13,155 peak AMBER — off peak, not distressed
Revenue trend FY2026 -3.1% YoY despite WFE upcycle RED — declining revenue in "up" cycle
Earnings trend 3 EPS misses before Q4 beat AMBER
China exposure 38% of sales; export control risk active RED — material and unresolved
Order book "Record Q4 order intake" — management claim GREEN — if credible
FY2027 guide +19.7% revenue — aggressive AMBER — depends on no new restrictions
Balance sheet Fortress; net cash 195B JPY GREEN
Insider activity No data; leadership transition NEUTRAL
Analyst consensus Majority Buy/Hold, mean PT +16% GREEN
Valuation Trailing P/E 22.7x, P/B 4.29x RED — not a Graham price
Dividend stability Cyclically volatile (15→147→130→175 JPY) AMBER — not stable like a defensive
WFE cycle position Mid-upcycle; risk of flattening CY2026 AMBER
EUR FX JPY/EUR: buying JPY at historically weak levels GREEN (JPY cheapness = bonus)

Active REDs: 3 (revenue declining, China controls, valuation). GREEN: 4. AMBER: 5.


Verdict

YELLOW — WATCHLIST, NOT BUY

SCREEN Holdings is an excellent business. Global #1 in single-wafer cleaning, fortress balance sheet, growing dividend, no debt. It passes 5/7 Graham filters on headline numbers. But the investment case breaks down on two fronts:

  1. Valuation is not Graham. P/E 22.7x trailing, P/B 4.29x, P/E×P/B = 97.1 (target ≤22.5). This is a quality-growth multiple, not a value multiple. The break-even growth rate at trailing EPS (7.1%) leaves zero margin of safety. Graham IV at a realistic 5% growth is 9,009 JPY — 18% below the current price. The stock would need to trade at ~8,500-9,000 JPY before a 33% margin of safety opens up even at forward earnings.

  2. shr-017 cyclical trap: Revenue declined 3.1% in FY2026 even as management described a WFE upcycle. The prior revenue peak (FY2025: 625B JPY) was inflated by the China build-out (43% of sales) — which is now unwinding due to export controls. The "5Y EPS CAGR 20.4%" that passes F5 is largely driven by the China windfall era, not durable structural growth. If China normalizes to 25-30% of sales under controls, a through-cycle normalized EPS is likely 350-400 JPY, not 487 JPY. At 350 JPY normalized EPS and 15x P/E (Graham quality multiple), fair value is ~5,250 JPY — less than half the current price.

  3. China risk unresolved. 38% of revenue concentrated in a market facing active and tightening export restrictions. Management's "10-15% impact if enacted" is self-serving — the direction of travel in US-Japan-China tech policy is clearly restrictive and has not reversed.

Entry threshold: Worth revisiting at 7,500-8,000 JPY (15-16x forward earnings on the FY2027 guide of 582 JPY EPS, and closer to 20x normalized EPS of ~380 JPY). That is a ~28-32% decline from current levels — possible only in a WFE down-cycle or a meaningful China revenue shock.

Do not buy at 11,030 JPY. The business deserves a premium multiple; the current price just doesn't offer a Graham entry.

VERDICT LINE: YELLOW — Watchlist at 7,500-8,000 JPY (-28% to -32%); no entry at 11,030 JPY. Trailing P/E 22.7x and P/B 4.29x fail Graham by wide margins; break-even growth 7.1% on trailing EPS with zero MoS; FY2026 revenue -3.1% despite WFE upcycle flags peak-cycle trap (shr-017); China 38% exposure under active export control pressure is unresolved RED.