Renesas Electronics (6723.T): Results briefing: Few comments to raise future expectations, but strong earnings outlook for 2027 intact; maintain Buy

Renesas held its results briefing on October 29; CFO Shuhei Shinkai attended while CEO Hidetoshi Shibata did not. Automotive: despite sluggish global auto production, solid sales conditions should continue on strong 28nm MCU and Gen4 SoC performance, with LSD % qoq growth in both 3Q and 4Q. Industrial demand, particularly mass-market, remains strong and may benefit indirectly from DC/Agentic AI applications. DC sales rose by a mid-20% level qoq in 3Q with mid-teens % qoq growth guided for 4Q; digital power, about half of DC-related applications, will see in-house production at the Saijo factory contribute from 1Q27, with digital power capacity (run rate) guided to rise 2-2.5x yoy in 2027. The better-than-expected 3Q margin improvement came from non-automotive IIoT industrial and DC contributions;