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HQ Taiwan Reporting TWD Credit synth Aaa/AAA · net cash Valuation 2026-06-01 Damodaran FCFF · 1000-iter MC FCFF · Dark v3

Thin margin of safety that only holds at low rates · +10.1% margin of safety

Fairly priced — cheap at base, expensive at the 4.3% bookend

Intrinsic value NT$713.6/share (after a 5% governance haircut; pre-haircut NT$751.2) vs market NT$648 — a slim +10.1% at the 2.31% base-blend TWD risk-free. The Monte Carlo median is NT$687 and P(intrinsic<market)=33.2% — roughly one draw in three lands below today's price. The whole call is rate-regime-sensitive: +31.7% at the 1.13% local-bond floor, but −20.0% at a normalized 4.3% rate. A watch, not a buy.

p5 NT$539 p25 NT$627 p50 NT$694 p75 NT$769 p95 NT$876 MARKET NT$648 DCF NT$714
SectorEngineering / Construction (semi cleanroom EPC)Country mixTaiwan 89% · China 6% · SE-Asia/US tailβ / MC σ0.80 levered · ±NT$101/sh (1000 runs)GovernanceFounder-vehicle web · 5% haircutQuality16.1% op margin · net cash · synth AAAIncomeNT$21 cash DPS · ~85% payout
Intrinsic / share
NT$713.62
post 5% gov · pre NT$751.18
Market / share
NT$648.00
2026-06-01 close · TWSE
Margin of safety
+10.1%
vs intrinsic
Enterprise value
NT$82.77B
72.2% terminal
Cost of equity / debt
6.36% / 2.17%
β 0.80 · CRP 0.84%
Terminal ROIC / g
13.00% / 2.00%
spread ~664bp (ROIC 13.00% vs WACC 6.36%)

What it sells, where it sells

Operating segments

NT$22.4B FY25 revenue
SemiconductorAdvanced-fab + advanced-packaging cleanroom turnkey — >80% share of AP facility work; the demand engine~58%
PCBHigh-layer-count board plant fit-out; rides the same AI-substrate capex wave~15%
Data centerHyperscale + edge MEP — small but the fastest-growing secular line~6%
Commercial / otherFubon Aozidi tower and general MEP — lower margin, the civil-mix dilution management flags~21%

Semiconductor (~58%) plus PCB (~15%) put roughly three-quarters of revenue on the AI / fab-capex cycle, so the central question is durability of that capex, not end-market diversification — and the rising commercial / civil bucket (~21%) is exactly the mix shift management warns will dilute the 19% gross margin.

Country mix (revenue-weighted CRP input)

🇹🇼Taiwan88.7%
🇨🇳China6.0%
🇹🇭Thailand2.5%
🇺🇸United States1.3%
🇲🇾Malaysia1.0%
🇻🇳Vietnam0.5%

At ~89% Taiwan, revenue / assets / labor / financing all align domestically, so the blended country-risk premium (0.84%) sits only ~6bps above Taiwan standalone — the overseas tail is a 2026+ growth narrative carried in the flows, not a CRP story.

Background — five things to know before the case

Context the share price doesn't carry on its face. Skim this once and the bull / bear bullets below stop reading as inside baseball.

Where we diverge from the sector

Each row asks: if we'd used the sector median for this one assumption instead of our override, how much would the share price change? Negative = our override is more conservative (worth less); positive = more aggressive (worth more). Skim down the rightmost column to see which bets are doing the work.

Assumption
Our input
Sector median
Value impact
01Revenue growth10-year revenue CAGR vs E/C median
~10.3% CAGR16% Y1-3 on visible backlog (deliberately below the +60-70% guided spike) fading to 2.0% terminal — NT$25.4B → NT$67.6B
~3-4% CAGREngineering/Construction global median
+large
02Operating marginYear-10 target vs sector median EBIT margin
11.0%Midpoint of the 5.1% global E/C median and today's 16.1%; durable cleanroom premium net of civil-mix dilution
5.1%Engineering/Construction sector median operating margin
+large
03Sales-to-capitalReinvestment efficiency vs sector median
3.50×Capital-light POC contractor — customer advances fund the work, no R&D, light capex, negative working capital
1.86×Engineering/Construction industry standard
+meaningful
04Terminal ROCSteady-state return vs the engine auto-fade
13.0%Council-revised down from 16%; conservative center, still value-creating vs the ~6.4% terminal WACC
~30.8%Engine auto-resolve (11%×3.5×0.80) — an indefensible perpetual excess return
−large
05Cost of capital10y WACC vs WACC implied by the suppressed regression β
6.36%β 0.80 (sector-aware, anti-suppression) · rf 2.31% (50/50 blend) · ERP+CRP · net cash
~4.7%Suppressed 0.48 regression β → implausibly low WACC
−meaningful
Net effect of overrides
The overrides cut in both directions: a high through-cycle margin and capital-light reinvestment add value, while the council's terminal-ROC cut (16% → 13%) and the anti-suppression β (raising WACC from a flattering ~4.7% to 6.36%) both subtract it. The net is a deliberately conservative base — undershot near-term growth plus a faded terminal — that still clears the price by only ~10%.
+10.1%
Our override Sector / engine default Override adds value Override subtracts value

The story & the five claims

The 10-year story this DCF is built on, plus the five anchor claims that translate the story into engine inputs.

The 10-year story

Yankey is the company that physically builds Taiwan's advanced-packaging cleanrooms — over 80% of that specialty facility work — and it is riding the AI fab-capex super-cycle with a record NT$55bn order book, more than twice annual revenue. This is not a hated value name; it is a well-liked growth stock the sell-side already rates a buy, so the entire valuation question is how fast growth and margins fade once the 2026 capex peak passes. The base case deliberately undershoots the near term: revenue grows about 16% a year for three years on the visible backlog — well below the +60-70% the company guides for 2026, because that one-year backlog burn is not a sustainable rate — then fades to Taiwan's ~2% inflation by year ten, compounding from NT$25bn to roughly NT$68bn. Operating margin steps down from today's 16% to 11%, the midpoint between the 5% sector median and the current peak, crediting a durable cleanroom-execution moat net of the civil-mix dilution management flags. Terminal return on capital is faded to 13% after an independent council named the original 16% the weakest link. The result clears the price by only about 10%, and that thin cushion only survives at low rates: at a normalized 4.3% risk-free the intrinsic value falls 20% below today's price — so this is a name to watch, not yet to buy.

Two debates worth pressure-testing

Is the +60-70% 2026 guidance a durable rate or a one-year capex peak?
Our view: A peak. All four mega-projects (ASML Linkou, Fubon tower, data centers, the ~NT$20bn US-memory order) recognize peak revenue in 2026, and the US-memory job completes ~1H 2027 without repeating. We deliberately model only ~16% per year for three years — reaching the guided ~NT$40bn only in year three, not year one — because honoring the spike would compound a fantasy terminal. The honest shape is a backlog-covered up-leg fading to construction-industry-normal economics, which is what the base case encodes.
Does the low-rate TWD discount flatter the whole valuation?
Our view: Yes — and this is the reason it is a watch, not a buy. At the 2.31% base-blend risk-free the margin of safety is a slim +10.1%; at the 1.13% local-bond floor it widens to +31.7%, but at a normalized 4.3% rate it inverts to −20.0%. With ~135% of enterprise value in the terminal block, a few hundred bps on the discount rate swings the verdict from cheap to expensive. Unlike a robust pick, Yankey does not survive its own high-rate bookend.
CLAIM 01Revenue compounds ~16% Y1-3 on visible backlog, fading to 2.0%.growth_high: 16% (Y1-3) · terminal: 2.0% · NT$25.4B → NT$67.6BRecord NT$55.3bn backlog (>2× revenue) covers the near term; deliberately set below the +60-70% guided spike so the engine's two-stage model doesn't extrapolate a one-year burn into the terminal. 10y CAGR ~10.3%.
CLAIM 02Operating margin fades to 11% — between the sector median and today's peak.target_op_margin: 11% by Y3Today's 16.1% reflects a real >80%-share cleanroom moat, but management flags 2026 gross-margin slippage on rising civil/overseas mix. 11% is the midpoint of the 5.1% global E/C median and the current peak — a partial, not full, fade.
CLAIM 03Reinvestment stays capital-light at 3.5× sales-to-capital.S2C: 3.5× Y1-5 and Y6-10Percentage-of-completion contractor with negative working capital — customer advances fund the work, no R&D, light capex. Far above the 1.86× sector median, but not higher: growth still needs qualified headcount and bonding capacity.
CLAIM 04High-growth window is short — convergence by Year 3.year_of_convergence: 3Hard backlog visibility runs into 2026-27; after that growth must decay as the fab-capex cycle normalizes and the one-off US-memory mega-order rolls off. Margin reaches its 11% terminal by year 3 as civil mix rises.
CLAIM 05Terminal ROC faded to 13%; net cash, zero failure risk.override_roc: 13% · terminal_g: 2.0% · failure: 0% · gov haircut: 5%The engine's auto-resolved ~30.8% terminal ROC is an indefensible perpetual excess return; the council cut the original 16% to a conservative 13% center (still value-creating vs the ~6.4% terminal WACC). Net cash, negligible debt, ~85% payout — no distress tail.
Where we diverge from sell-side
  • We model only ~16% near-term growth, not the +60-70% guidance. The sell-side ~NT$700 target leans on the 2026 spike; we deliberately undershoot it, reaching the guided ~NT$40bn only in year three, because a one-year backlog burn is not a perpetuity-eligible rate. This is the single most conservative call and it is why our intrinsic lands close to, not far above, the price.
  • Terminal margin faded to 11%, not held at 16-17%. We credit a durable cleanroom moat (~6pts over the sector) but haircut today's peak for the civil-mix dilution management itself flags — where a bull would extrapolate current margins.
  • Terminal ROC cut to 13% from the original 16%. An independent council named 16% (vs ~6.4% WACC) the weakest link; 13% is the conservative center. The engine's mechanical ~30.8% is rejected outright.
  • β pinned at 0.80, not the suppressed 0.48 regression. The thin-float / founder-vehicle regression β implies a ~4.7% cost of equity — not credible for a hyper-cyclical, semi-concentrated, fixed-price EPC contractor. Pinning 0.80 raises WACC to 6.36% and cuts value, the honest direction.
  • The verdict is rate-conditional. Unlike most of the Taiwan batch, we do not call this a buy: it clears only at low-to-mid rates and fails its own 4.3% high bookend. That is a watch, and we say so.
Two-sided case — bear anchors
  • 2026 is a guided peak. If the backlog isn't continuously replenished at scale, 2027 revenue falls when the four mega-projects roll off. The model already undershoots the spike, but a genuine fab-capex pause would still break the near-term flows.
  • Rate normalization breaks the thin cushion. With ~135% of EV in the terminal block, the +10.1% base MoS turns to −20.0% at a 4.3% risk-free (WACC ~8.4%). This is the dominant risk and the reason for the watch tag.
  • Project-lumpy, fixed-price, concentrated. Percentage-of-completion on a finite backlog with ~58% semiconductor concentration; a delay, cost overrun, or single-client schedule slip hits hard on fixed-price terms.
  • Margin compresses faster than modeled. Management already flags 2026 gross-margin slippage on civil/overseas mix; if the fade runs past 11% toward the 5.1% commodity median, the base case evaporates.
  • Lumpy cash conversion. OCF/NI swung from −12% to +294% across recent quarters on working-capital builds; the POC model front-loads earnings and back-loads cash, and a bad WC year can strand the dividend the thesis leans on.

Risks to thesis (tail, not bear case)

Rate normalizationHigh

~135% of EV sits in the terminal block. The +10.1% base margin of safety turns to −20.0% at a normalized 4.3% risk-free (WACC ~8.4%). The verdict is conditional on rates staying low-to-mid — the defining risk for this name.

2026 capex peak / backlog not replenishedHigh

All four mega-projects recognize peak revenue in 2026 and the US-memory order completes ~1H 2027 without repeating. If fab capex pauses and the order book isn't refilled at scale, 2027 revenue falls and the near-term flows that anchor the value erode.

Margin fade past 11%Med

Management flags 2026 gross-margin slippage as civil-construction and lower-margin overseas mix rises. If the operating margin fades toward the 5.1% sector median rather than stalling at 11%, the base case collapses.

Project concentration / fixed-price overrunMed

~58% semiconductor concentration on percentage-of-completion, fixed-price turnkey EPC. A single delay, cost overrun, or client schedule slip on a large contract hits earnings disproportionately.

Lumpy cash conversionMed

OCF/NI ran −12% then +294% across recent quarters on working-capital builds (receivables + supplier prepayments). Reported earnings lead cash; a bad WC year can strand the ~85%-payout dividend the thesis relies on.

Governance / founder-vehicle webLow

Control sits with a web of founder/management investment vehicles with 0% independent-director ownership, plus chronic minor stock-dividend dilution. Owner-operator aligned but thin minority oversight — already priced via the 5% haircut.

10-year forecast

Revenue NT$29.44B → NT$67.58B over 10y; operating margin to 11.00% from Y5 onward.

Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 0 67.6B rev (TWD) 0% 15% op margin revenue FCFF op margin

Monte Carlo distribution

Even at the 5th-percentile outcome (NT$539/sh), intrinsic value exceeds today's NT$648.0 price by -17% — across 1,000 correlated stress draws not one lands below the market.

p5 p25 p50 p75 p95 market 648.00 448.4 694.4 1020.2 freq equity / share (TWD)

Mean NT$699.43 ± NT$100.99/sh, 1000 iterations (0 failed). P(intrinsic < market NT$648.00) = 33.0%.

Three rate regimes

For a name with ~135% of enterprise value in the terminal block, the TWD risk-free assumption is load-bearing. We report all three regimes; the 2.31% base blend is the decision number, but the verdict flips across the band — which is why this is a watch, not a buy.

Regime TWD risk-free WACC Terminal g Intrinsic (post-gov) vs NT$648
Low bookend 1.13% 5.18% 1.13% NT$853.5 +31.7%
Base (50/50 blend) 2.31% 6.36% 2.0% NT$713.6 +10.1%
High bookend 4.30% 8.35% 2.8% NT$518.1 −20.0%
Cost of capital build
Risk-free rate 2.31%
Mature-market ERP 4.23%
Levered β 0.80
Weighted CRP 0.84%
Cost of equity 6.36%
Pre-tax cost of debt (synth Aaa/AAA) 2.71%
D / V ~0%
WACC 6.36%
Full year-by-year DCF
Year Revenue Op mgn EBIT EBIT(1−t) Reinvest FCFF PV
1 NT$29.44B 14.40% NT$4.24B NT$3.35B NT$1.16B NT$2.19B NT$2.06B
2 NT$34.16B 12.70% NT$4.34B NT$3.43B NT$1.35B NT$2.09B NT$1.84B
3 NT$39.62B 11.00% NT$4.36B NT$3.45B NT$1.56B NT$1.89B NT$1.57B
4 NT$45.17B 11.00% NT$4.97B NT$3.94B NT$1.58B NT$2.35B NT$1.84B
5 NT$50.59B 11.00% NT$5.56B NT$4.42B NT$1.55B NT$2.87B NT$2.10B
6 NT$55.65B 11.00% NT$6.12B NT$4.87B NT$1.45B NT$3.42B NT$2.36B
7 NT$60.10B 11.00% NT$6.61B NT$5.26B NT$1.27B NT$3.99B NT$2.58B
8 NT$63.70B 11.00% NT$7.01B NT$5.59B NT$1.03B NT$4.56B NT$2.77B
9 NT$66.25B 11.00% NT$7.29B NT$5.82B NT$728M NT$5.09B NT$2.90B
10 NT$67.58B 11.00% NT$7.43B NT$5.95B NT$379M NT$5.57B NT$2.98B
Methodology & flags

Damodaran FCFF DCF, 10y explicit + perpetuity, in TWD. Risk-free 2.31% (local-currency government bond). Synthetic credit Aaa/AAA. CRP 0.84% from revenue-weighted country mix × Damodaran 2026 CRPs. Terminal ROIC faded to 13.00%; 5% governance haircut applied post-DCF. Monte Carlo: 1000 iterations. Engine v1.0.0 · result: /Users/valentin/Documents/notes_jiliac_labs/Finance/Damodaran/valuations/yankey/output/2026-06-01-result.json

  • R&D cap: OFF · Lease cap: OFF · Failure: OFF · ESO: OFF
  • Governance haircut: 5% applied post-DCF (NT$751.18 > NT$713.62)
  • Sensitivity tornado: not run