[Click eStock] "Hyundai Steel Expected to Enter Market Recovery Next Year"

Sangsangin Securities forecasted on the 21st that Hyundai Steel's third-quarter earnings will slightly miss the consensus. Accordingly, they newly issued a 'Buy' investment rating with a target price of 38,000 KRW.

Researcher Jinbeom Kim of Sangsangin Securities stated, "Sales are expected to record 5.6 trillion KRW, down 11.4% year-on-year, and operating profit is expected to sharply decline by 58.8% to 94.1 billion KRW, slightly missing the consensus (sales 5.8 trillion KRW, operating profit 106.9 billion KRW)."

Researcher Kim explained, "In the last third quarter, due to production cuts by some domestic electric arc furnace steelmakers, the distribution prices of rebar and H-beams rose, improving the spread on long products, but fixed cost burdens from equipment downtime and maintenance will limit overall profitability improvement."

He added, "Next year, the profitability of electric arc furnace and blast furnace operations is expected to improve compared to this year, and the steel market is anticipated to enter the early stage of a long-term recovery cycle."