[Featured Stock] YG Entertainment's Strong Performance Driven by BLACKPINK... Up 10% Intraday

YG Entertainment is rising nearly 10% during trading hours.

At 9:26 AM on the 12th, YG Entertainment was trading at 73,300 KRW, up 9.9% from the previous trading day. The company's stock price surged to as high as 75,200 KRW during the session. This is thanks to strong first-quarter earnings and growing expectations for future performance.

In the first quarter, the company recorded sales of 157.5 billion KRW and an operating profit of 36.5 billion KRW, significantly exceeding the market expectation of 16.3 billion KRW in operating profit. This was due not only to the recognition of concert revenues that were not reflected last year but also to a substantial increase in the per-show guarantee level for BLACKPINK's performances, which greatly boosted profits.

Park Soo-young, a researcher at Hanwha Investment & Securities, said, "BLACKPINK's guarantee for this quarter appears to be twice as large as initially estimated," adding, "Although it is unfortunate that BLACKPINK is a unique IP, if expectations for Baby Monster spread, the stock price could rise further." On the same day, Hanwha Investment & Securities raised YG Entertainment's target stock price by 9% from the previous level to 82,000 KRW.