Despite Ex-Dividend, Another Record High... LG Innotek's Solo 'December Rally'

Record Highs Broken 7 Times This Month... 80% Increase Since October
First Ever Sales Surpass 10 Trillion Won and Operating Profit Exceeds 1 Trillion Won Confirmed
Future Business Outlook Also Bright

LG Innotek Headquarters Exterior View

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] LG Innotek is showing a distinctive upward trend even in the somewhat dull year-end stock market, continuously hitting new all-time highs. This is interpreted as investor sentiment pouring in due to record-breaking performance as well as expectations for future growth.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 30th, LG Innotek recorded 375,000 KRW during trading the previous day, setting a new all-time high. It broke its record high for the seventh time this month alone. Up until the previous day this month, LG Innotek's stock price rose by 20.9%. During the same period, the KOSPI index increased by only 5.4%. In particular, since the 8th, while the KOSPI hovered below the 3,000 mark, LG Innotek continued an upward trajectory, rising about 28% until the previous day. Expanding the range since last October, it rose by a remarkable 80.4%.

Institutional investors' sentiment was especially concentrated. Except for seven trading days this month, they bought LG Innotek shares every day. From October 21 to November 19, there was a continuous net purchase for 19 trading days. Since late October until the previous day, there were only 10 trading days of net selling of LG Innotek shares.

This is interpreted as a result of record-breaking strong performance and bright future industry outlook, which increased expectations. LG Innotek is expected to surpass 10 trillion KRW in sales and 1 trillion KRW in operating profit for the first time this year. According to financial information provider FnGuide, LG Innotek's consensus forecast for this year's performance is 14.1356 trillion KRW in sales and 1.2799 trillion KRW in operating profit, representing increases of 48.1% and 87.9% respectively compared to the previous year.

This is because better-than-expected results are anticipated in the optical solutions division due to strong sales of Apple's new iPhone models. The automotive parts business targeting autonomous vehicles is also receiving attention. This is because LG Innotek possesses core optical and communication technologies and has completed mass production verification for autonomous vehicle parts from global automobile manufacturers.

Dongwon Kim, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "LG Innotek's automotive parts business, which has secured an order backlog of 10 trillion KRW, is expected to receive new orders exceeding 3 trillion KRW annually on average in the future, and will increase new supply of core autonomous vehicle parts to more than 20 global automobile companies next year." He added, "The recently rising stock price has not yet reflected the value of new businesses such as Apple's metaverse (extended virtual world) augmented reality (XR) devices and autonomous vehicles (Apple Car), so there is ample room for further growth."