[Click eStock] "Comico, Performance Improvement Centered on Asian Subsidiaries... Target Price Raised to 140,000 Won"

Yuanta Securities analyzed on the 19th that Comico's performance improvement trend continues, centered on its Asia subsidiaries. The investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy,' and the target stock price was raised to 140,000 KRW.

Yuanta Securities forecasted that Comico's 2nd quarter sales and operating profit will increase by 107% and 394% year-on-year to 130 billion KRW and 32.1 billion KRW, respectively. Baek Gil-hyun, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, stated, "Along with the recovery of domestic memory semiconductor utilization rates, this marks the early stage of performance improvement due to normalization of utilization rates centered on Asia subsidiaries. The expected operating profit of the subsidiary Mico Ceramics is 22.8 billion KRW, as ceramic heater demand remains robust and profitability is estimated to have improved compared to the previous quarter."

Yuanta Securities expects Comico's operating profit to increase by 298% year-on-year to 131.6 billion KRW this year and to grow by 42% to 187.2 billion KRW next year. Researcher Baek said, "The utilization rates of semiconductor customers in Asia subsidiaries are rising again starting from the 2nd quarter, which will serve as a basis for upward revisions of future performance estimates. In particular, attention should be paid to the Singapore subsidiary, where profitability improvement is expected not only due to the recovery of utilization rates of North American memory semiconductor customers but also due to the expansion of cleaning business for new European equipment companies."

He emphasized, "The performance improvement trend centered on the subsidiary Mico Ceramics will continue this year and next year as well," explaining that due to memory semiconductor capital expenditures (CAPEX), demand for ceramic heaters for ALD equipment of major customers is expected to resume from the second half of this year, along with an expansion of semiconductor clients and increasing demand in the Greater China region.