[Click eStock] "PI Advanced Materials, Operating Profit Estimate Cut by 23%"

Goal Lowered to 36,000 Won

On the 11th, Korea Investment & Securities lowered its operating profit estimate for PI Advanced Materials by 23% this year and adjusted the target stock price down by 18% to 36,000 KRW. The investment rating was maintained as "Buy."

Jung-hwan Kim, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, explained, "Although sales are expected to recover to the 2022 level, production capacity has increased by about 20% compared to that time, and reflecting the resulting lower average operating rate, we have revised down this year's estimated operating profit margin to 17%."

Korea Investment & Securities projected that PI Advanced Materials' Q4 sales last year would be 56.3 billion KRW, with an operating profit of 2.5 billion KRW, slightly below the consensus estimate of 4.2 billion KRW. Researcher Kim analyzed, "Inventory adjustments have been completed, and the operating rate is estimated to have improved compared to the first half of the year, but the slower recovery in Q4 sales and operating rate had an impact."

Demand for PI film is expected to remain solid this year. Accordingly, sales are forecasted to reach 270.4 billion KRW, with an operating profit of 46.6 billion KRW, turning positive.

Researcher Kim stated, "Sales of intermediate component companies producing heat dissipation sheets and PCCL using PI film have already passed the bottom due to a slowdown in set demand and recovery in production volume," adding, "The use of PI film is expanding with increased sales of OLED iPads, XR devices, foldable phones, and insulating tapes for secondary batteries."