[Click eStock] "Korean Air Q4 Earnings Expected to Fall Short of Estimates"

Yonhap News

Daishin Securities forecasted on the 20th that Korean Air's fourth-quarter earnings would fall short of market expectations. The investment rating was maintained at 'Buy' with a target price of 33,000 KRW.

Yang Ji-hwan, a researcher at Daishin Securities, stated, "Korean Air's consolidated fourth-quarter revenue is expected to increase by 2.4% year-on-year to 4.5 trillion KRW, while operating profit is projected to surge 60.1% to 455.2 billion KRW, falling short of consensus."

Researcher Yang explained, "The weaker-than-expected performance is believed to be due to a decline in international passenger yield and the payment of special bonuses related to the acquisition of Asiana Airlines."

Yang added, "Despite the exchange rate soaring due to martial law, presidential impeachment, and hawkish remarks from the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), inbound and outbound passenger demand remains robust. However, international passenger yields are expected to fall short of expectations due to last year's high base on European routes and slow demand recovery compared to supply on Chinese routes."

Additionally, Yang diagnosed, "Due to the payment of special bonuses related to the acquisition of Asiana Airlines, the fourth-quarter earnings are expected to fall short of both Korean Air's previous estimates and market expectations."