[Click eStock] "Aurora, Undervalued Investment Opportunity... New Target Price Set at 12,000"

Market Cap Under 100 Billion, Attractive Stock Price
Q1 Operating Margin in the 10% Range, Overseas Ratio Over 80%
Newly Opened Golf Courses Also Contribute to Top-Line Growth

Heungkuk Securities on the 22nd newly issued a 'Buy' investment opinion and a target price of 12,000 KRW for Aurora, stating that its market capitalization is undervalued compared to its performance. Aurora closed at 6,810 KRW on the previous trading day.

Choi Jong-kyung, a researcher at Heungkuk Securities, said, "Considering the already normalized performance with a sales rebound in 2022 and an operating profit margin rebound in 2023 (7.9% → 12.2%), the market capitalization of less than 100 billion KRW that has continued since 2023 seems awkward." He added, "The favorable trend continues in overseas markets such as North America, and domestic distribution (Toyplus) business expansion is also progressing smoothly. With the peak season in the second half of the year and the expected operating profit turnaround due to sales expansion of newly opened golf courses, the current stock price level is a good investment timing."

Aurora, established in 1981, is a company specializing in character and toy development and production. Overseas, it is recognized for its high brand and content value with products such as ‘Yohoo and Friends’, ‘Palm Pals’, and ‘Eco Nation’, and domestically with the ‘Shinbi Apartment’ toy product line. It also holds the remarkable record of winning the '2024 Korea First Brand Award (Korea Consumer Forum)' in the character toy category for 20 consecutive years.

Aurora’s first-quarter sales were 60.8 billion KRW, and operating profit was 6.9 billion KRW. Overseas sales accounted for 80%. Researcher Choi said, "The KRW-USD exchange rate worked positively," adding, "Even so, achieving sales in the 60 billion KRW range in the first quarter, which is an off-season, and double-digit external growth not seen in 2023 is a meaningful performance." Maintaining a double-digit operating profit margin was also positively evaluated. The newly opened golf course (Aurora Golf & Resort) in Sinrim-myeon, Wonju City, which opened last March, has received favorable reviews from users due to its excellent infrastructure and reasonable prices, and is expanding its full-scale operations.