Kioxia Holdings' share price continued to fall sharply from the previous week, declining 41% in 5 trading days. The decline was driven by heavy selling by former parent Toshiba and developments around the earnings announcement, with trading trends continuing into early November.
The share price of Kioxia Holdings, a major semiconductor memory company, continued to plunge after news immediately preceding the earnings announcement and fell below ¥10,000 at the close on 5 November. The decline continued thereafter, resulting in a 41% drop over 5 trading days. Despite the assessment that the company has strong earnings power for a manufacturer, with revenue of ¥2.48 trillion and operating profit of ¥1.9947 trillion for the July-September 2026 quarter, its results have weighed on the share price.
A report revealed that Toshiba had sold 11.24 million shares on the market on 27 October. The sale took place 3 days before the earnings announcement. Toshiba's stake had been declining in stages, falling to 10.46% as of 27 October. Kioxia's share price had surged at times following its share split in April, and Toshiba's selling has become a burden on the stock.
There have also been offsetting developments related to the earnings trend. Kioxia itself repurchased approximately ¥800 billion of its own shares over 6 trading days from 3 to 10 August. Based on the number of shares acquired and the amount spent, the average purchase price is estimated at around ¥16,500. Meanwhile, the 6 November closing price had fallen to approximately one-quarter of its early-October high, suggesting that a market turnaround may take time.
The outlook for the next quarter has a strong sense of stagnation. Revenue for the October-December quarter is expected to be approximately ¥2.5 trillion and operating profit approximately ¥1.995 trillion. Although revenue is expected to increase slightly from the previous quarter, operating profit is expected to remain almost flat. Demand, including from data centres, is considered solid, but some observers say it is difficult to be optimistic after taking into account the impact of foreign exchange movements and other factors.
As a related development at another company, US-based SanDisk also reported earnings that projected higher revenue for the next quarter, but its share price fell the day after the announcement. These developments are increasing uncertainty over the outlook for the memory market as a whole, and concern is spreading over supply and demand prospects across the industry.