[Click eStock] "JYP Entertainment Approaches 100 Billion KRW Operating Profit This Year... Target Price Raised"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Hana Financial Investment maintained its 'Buy' rating on JYP Entertainment on the 17th but raised the target price by 6% to 72,000 KRW. This decision is based on the expectation that MD (special merchandise) sales will be larger than anticipated as the tours of idol groups Stray Kids, TWICE, and NiziU are in full swing.

Lee Ki-hoon, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, stated, "This year's annual operating profit is raised by 12% to 95 billion KRW, a 64% increase compared to the previous year."

The researcher explained, "This is because the assumptions for album sales volumes have been raised for TWICE, who still have many activity plans during the contract renewal season, and for NMIXX, which sold 480,000 copies of their debut album. Additionally, MD and appearance fee revenues across K-pop continue to exceed expectations."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He added, "There is room for further upward revision depending on the results of completing the establishment of the company's own mall in the second half. This is a company with steadily increasing EPS (Earnings Per Share), and the only concern is the macroeconomic environment."

The researcher highlighted that first-quarter sales reached 67.8 billion KRW, a 110% increase compared to the same period last year, significantly surpassing expectations. He analyzed, "This reflects the comebacks of Stray Kids and NMIXX, as well as seven TWICE concerts in North America, and other sales, including TWICE's US MD, greatly exceeded expectations."

He diagnosed, "The previous assumption was that when offline tours resume, MD sales generated through online concerts would be partially offset. However, due to the global expansion of fandoms, the capabilities of local management (Republic Records), and the combination of offline and online activities, the MD sales from the offline tour segment are added on top of the existing figures."