Valuation surpasses NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US)! Japanese stock new "Number One" Advantest (ATEYY.US) faces major financial test with earnings report.

ATEYY.US is facing significant challenges in this financial reporting season, with its stock price soaring nearly 80% this year, pushing its valuation level above its major customer, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US). Driven by the artificial intelligence boom, this global chip testing equipment manufacturer's market value has surged to over 80 billion dollars, firmly entering the global investors' field of vision, and as of the end of September, it is the largest component of the Nikkei 225 Index, surpassing SoftBank and FAST RETAIL-DRS. Over the past two months, the company's stock price has accelerated, attracting attention in the recent discussion on the artificial intelligence stock bubble. The stock price has surpassed analyst targets, with a P/E ratio of 44 times, compared to NVIDIA Corporation's P/E ratio of 31 times. Option data shows that after ATEYY.US releases its financial report on October 28th, the stock price may experience significant fluctuations, with an expected volatility of 6.4%, more than double the average increase after financial reports in the past two years. Investment research firm Morningstar's director Ito Kazunori pointed out that driven by optimism about artificial intelligence, ATEYY.US's stock price has risen much faster than expected, despite a lackluster performance in other chip sectors. He downgraded the stock to "sell" last month, but acknowledged that the company will be a major beneficiary of artificial intelligence in the long term. Market expectations for ATEYY.US's earnings per share in the next 12 months have been raised by over 50% since the beginning of the year, reflecting high expectations. However, analysts are still struggling to keep up with the pace of the stock price, which is currently 18% higher than the market's general expectations. Optimism is partly driven by the performance of other members of NVIDIA Corporation's supply chain, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TSM.US) and ASML Holding NV ADR (ASML.US). However, concerns about non-artificial intelligence chip demand were raised by the performance of Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN.US). ATEYY.US's financial report and outlook have attracted attention after a significant surge in the stock price. Maito Yamamoto, Chief Analyst at Nissay Asset Management Corp., stated that the artificial intelligence hype is already reflected in the stock price, and now the focus is on whether new catalysts will emerge to further enhance market consensus expectations for next year, especially whether the company will indicate that demand for artificial intelligence-related testing equipment remains strong. NVIDIA Corporation's performance next month will be the industry's top event, revealing a frenzy of mega-scale enterprise spending and its own equipment demand. Another potential driving factor for ATEYY.US is the index event, as the company was included in the TOPIX Core 30 index this month, attracting passive tracking fund inflows. In recent weeks, its weight in the Nikkei 225 index has temporarily touched 10%, potentially limiting future blue-chip index adjustment space. As one of the best performing semiconductor stocks globally by 2025, ATEYY.US is also one of the highest valued stocks. However, some investors believe that given its 58% market share in the global chip testing equipment market, its dominant position deserves premium investment. Fund manager Ikueo Mitsui of Aze Securities stated that investors are aware of the stock's high price, but when dealing with it, they accept this premium and believe it is one of the companies worth trading at a premium.