KUALA LUMPUR (June 8): KESM Industries Bhd saw its share prices risen as much as 21 sen or 5.6% to its intra-morning high today, on institutional buying.

SJ Securities senior remisier Goh Kay Chong told theedgemarkets.com that the counter has drawn institutional funds' interest since May 8 this year.

"The current price has yet achieved institutional investors' expectations, I belived the stock may rise to a high of RM5.24 if they continue to buy into the counter," Goh said.

Goh added that the immediate resistance level of KESM stood at RM4.32.

To recap, KESM (fundamental: 2.5; valuation: 2) had on May 8, obtained the approval from shareholders of Sunright Ltd regarding a resolution for the sale and transfer of shares in KESM Test (M) Sdn Bhd.

This was part of the group's restructuring exercise and its strategy to grow its testing business.

KESM is engaged in specialised electronic manufacturing activities, particularly in providing burn-in services to the semiconductor industry.

As at 3.31pm, KESM pared down part of its gains to trade at RM3.91, still up 16 sen or 4.27%, with 319,300 units shares traded. It had a market capitalisation of RM161.3 million. It was earlier the second largest gainer across the bourse.

For the third financial quarter ended March 31, 2015 (3QFY15), KESM's net profit jumped 27.21% to RM1.73 million, from RM1.36 million a year earlier.

The group attributed the improved profit to foreign exchange gains, and lower raw materials and consumables used because of reduced electronic manufacturing services sales.

Revenue for the quarter came in at RM62.93 million, from RM59.11 million in 3QFY14.

For the cumulative nine months (9MFY15), net profit rose 56.67% to RM6.58 million, from RM4.2 million previously. Revenue for the period grew 4.56% to RM194.18 million, from RM185.72 million in 9MFY14.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)