Glonghui, Feb. 29 | Citibank released a report saying that ASMPT's profit for the fourth quarter of last year fell short of expectations, mainly hampered by higher-than-expected operating expenses. According to the median guideline for the first quarter of this year, revenue increased 20% year-on-year and fell 8% quarterly, which is also lower than market expectations. However, the quarterly improvement in gross margin of 8.2 percentage points to 42.3% in the fourth quarter of last year was a positive surprise, mainly benefiting from the better product portfolio. Citi believes that the company is a major artificial intelligence participant in Hong Kong technology stocks. It maintains a positive view on it. The rating is “buy”, and the target price is HK$85.