Seegene Reclaims 3rd Place Amid Soaring Stock Price
SK Materials Drops Two Ranks
Studio Dragon Rises to 9th Place
[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Recently, as the KOSDAQ has steadily risen and recovered the 980-point level, the competition for top positions among the leading KOSDAQ market capitalization stocks has intensified.
According to the Korea Exchange on the 9th, Seegene surged sharply the previous day, reclaiming the 3rd place in market capitalization. Seegene, which had risen to 3rd place last year due to a surge in stock price amid the COVID-19 impact, had fallen to 9th place this year due to a weak stock price. This is the first time in about a month and a half since February 19 that Seegene has reached 3rd place. Seegene, which was in 8th place earlier this week, recovered to the 160,000 KRW range after its stock price surged for two consecutive days. Seegene rose 7.29% on the 7th and then soared 19.37% the previous day. As a diagnostic kit stock, Seegene's price rose due to a recent increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases, and the announcement of a stock dividend the previous day further propelled the stock price. Seegene decided on a 100% stock dividend, allocating one new share for every one common share.
With Seegene's rapid rise to 3rd place, Pearl Abyss, which was previously 3rd, along with Kakao Games and HL Biopharma, each dropped one rank, and SK Materials fell two ranks to 8th place. EcoPro BM maintained its position. SK Materials has fallen for two consecutive days recently as its first-quarter earnings are expected to fall short of market consensus. Kim Yangjae, a researcher at KTB Investment & Securities, said, "Due to regular maintenance of some subsidiaries and inventory adjustments of semiconductor customer materials, SK Materials' first-quarter earnings are expected to slightly miss the consensus."
The 9th and 10th places also swapped positions. Studio Dragon, which was 10th, overtook CJ ENM to rise to 9th place. Studio Dragon's market capitalization ranking rose as its first-quarter earnings are expected to perform well. Hana Financial Investment forecasted that Studio Dragon's first-quarter operating profit would increase by 42% year-on-year to 16.5 billion KRW, significantly exceeding the consensus of 13.9 billion KRW. This is because recent dramas have been successful, and overseas sales have surged, leading to much faster-than-expected earnings growth.
As the KOSDAQ continues its upward trend and the first-quarter earnings season begins, stocks are expected to show sensitivity to earnings. As of 9:10 a.m. on the day, the KOSDAQ recorded 987.76, up 0.58% from the previous day, continuing its rise for three consecutive days. The previous day, the KOSDAQ recovered the 980-point level for the first time since February 15 based on the closing price.
In particular, the market capitalizations of the 3rd to 5th ranked stocks are all in the 4 trillion KRW range, with small gaps, so position changes among them are expected to occur more frequently. Based on the previous day's closing price, Seegene's market capitalization was 4.381 trillion KRW, Pearl Abyss was 4.2764 trillion KRW, and Kakao Games was 4.0709 trillion KRW.
Stock dividends are also a variable. Alteogen, which has been pushed out of the top 10 due to the ex-rights date of its stock dividend, is scheduled to list its new shares on the 12th, so it is expected to return to the top 10 next week. Seegene, which announced a stock dividend, is also expected to go through a process of falling in market capitalization ranking due to ex-rights dates and then returning later.
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