Top Stock Market Highlights of the Week: Changi Airport’s Passenger Traffic, Applied Materials and Micron

Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.

Changi Airport passenger traffic

There was good news on the air travel front as pent-up demand continued to push passenger numbers higher.

Transport Minister S Iswaran announced the latest passenger numbers for Changi Airport last Sunday.

Up to 150,000 passengers are passing through Singapore’s airport daily, amounting to nearly a million per week.

This level is around 75% of the pre-pandemic passenger level but is already more than double the number that passed through when Singapore first opened its borders in April.

The Changi Airport Group (CAG) commented that 2022 had seen a strong recovery as passenger and flight numbers steadily increased since April.

The group handled 23.6 million passengers in the first 10 months of this year, or around 42% of pre-COVID traffic.

As of the first week of December, there were 95 airlines connecting Singapore to 140 cities in 48 countries or territories worldwide.

This network formed 82% of pre-pandemic connections and 2023 should see flights to even more destinations as airlines expand their connections.

The top countries that made up this traffic included Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, with China being noticeably absent as the country imposed its strict COVID-zero policy.

CAG also said that traffic from North America has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels and with China slowly reopening after relaxing its COVID-zero restrictions, Singapore could see a further boost to passenger numbers in 2023.

The strong recovery has no doubt benefitted the aviation and tourism sectors as well as aviation-related companies.

Singapore Airlines Limited (SGX: C6L) saw its share price hit a 52-week high as the airline announced a record operating profit and resumed paying dividends.

Other companies that stand to benefit from the higher number of flights and passengers include SATS Ltd (SGX: S58) and SIA Engineering Company Ltd (SGX: S59).

Genting Singapore Limited (SGX: G13) also reported a significantly better financial performance and looks poised to raise its dividends in 2023.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU)

In a sign that semiconductor demand is waning, chipmaker Micron Technology projected a steeper-than-expected loss for its fiscal 2023’s second quarter (2Q2023).

It also warned of a glut in the semiconductor market and announced a 10% reduction in its 48,000-strong workforce next year.

Micron estimated that revenue will come in at US$3.8 billion, above Wall Street’s estimates, but that net loss will be US$0.62 per share plus or minus 10 cents, significantly higher than analysts’ estimates of a loss per share of US$0.30.

The semiconductor manufacturing company’s shares have slid 48.4% year to date and are touching a 52-week low.

A combination of high inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions arising from the Russia-Ukraine war have severely curtailed consumer demand, leading to weaker sales of personal computers and smartphones.

Micron will also rein in its investment spending for 2023 to US$7 billion from the previous US$7.5 billion and announced that it will “significantly reduce” capital expenditure for 2024, though no number was provided.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT)

While Micron is grappling with short-term supply-demand mismatches, another semiconductor equipment manufacturer, Applied Materials, is digging in for the long term.

The company is the number one semiconductor and display equipment business in the world with more than 27,000 employees and around 15,700 patents.

Applied Materials is slated to build a US$600 million plant in Tampines Industrial Crescent in Singapore to expand its manufacturing and research operations.

The new facility, which will take up 700,000 square feet of space, will open in 2024.

In the process, around 1,000 new jobs will be created.

At the same time, the company also released an eight-year plan called Singapore 2030 to continue expanding here.

Applied Materials is confident of the long-term future of the global chip industry, projecting that it will grow beyond US$1 trillion by 2030, double the size of today’s market.

Shares of the company are down around 39% year to date.

The company reported a 12% year on year increase in sales to US$25.8 billion for its fiscal 2022 ending 31 October.

Net profit rose 11% year on year to US$6.5 billion.

Applied Materials also declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.26 per share.

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Disclaimer: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.

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