[Click eStock] "JT, Stable Performance... Entering Attractive Valuation Range"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] IBK Investment & Securities maintained a buy rating and a target price of 15,000 KRW for JT on the 25th, stating that while the company shows stable performance, it has entered an attractive valuation range due to the downturn cycle in the industry.

JT's sales in the second quarter of this year reached 14.7 billion KRW, up 4.3% year-on-year, and operating profit was 2.3 billion KRW, down 46.4%, meeting expectations.

Researcher Lee Geon-jae of IBK Investment & Securities explained, "We were able to confirm performance stability once again as customers continue to purchase new burn-in sorters amid the transition to DDR5 DRAM semiconductors," adding, "The steady purchase trend of new burn-in sorters is expected to continue stably until the first half of 2024, indicating that the performance trend meeting market expectations will persist for a considerable period."

JT's expected third-quarter performance projects sales of 21.2 billion KRW, a 9% increase year-on-year, and operating profit of 3.9 billion KRW, a 43.6% increase, similar to the first quarter.

However, as the multiples in the upstream industry continue to decline, JT, which operates in the related industry, is also experiencing a multiple decline, leading to an analysis that it has entered an attractive range in terms of stable performance and valuation. The researcher added, "JT also judged that its valuation attractiveness is sufficient and decided to repurchase its own shares."