[Featured Stock] APR Rises on Expectations of Growth in Cosmetics and Overseas Sales

APR is showing strong performance in the early trading session. This is interpreted as investor sentiment being driven by securities analysts' forecasts that the company will experience significant global expansion and margin growth starting from the first half of this year.

As of 9:08 AM on the 11th, APR's stock price is trading at 52,300 KRW, up 3,950 KRW (8.17%) compared to the previous day.

The securities industry's outlook that APR will continue its strong earnings is seen as the driving force behind the stock price increase. Hyunjin Park, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., noted that APR's operating profit in Q4 last year (39.6 billion KRW) met market expectations but was 10% below the company's estimate, citing issues related to transportation costs, sales commissions, and provisions for inventory in the fashion segment. He predicted that margins will improve starting this year.

Researcher Park stated, "The overwhelming sales growth of beauty devices and cosmetics is driving continuous expansion in scale," and forecasted that this year APR will achieve sales of 1 trillion KRW and an operating profit margin of 17-18%. He diagnosed that as margins break away from the downward trend starting in the first half of this year, the stock price will enter a low-price buying zone. He added, "B2B sales have been increasing since November last year, and margin improvements due to an improved distribution channel mix are expected to take effect from this year."

Hana Securities also pointed out that APR is expected to embark on significant scale expansion and global growth this year. Eunjeong Park, a researcher at Hana Securities, explained, "Assuming overseas sales of cosmetics and devices reach 530 billion KRW, representing a 33% growth compared to the same period last year, the proportion of overseas sales is expected to rise to 62%. In 2025, further scale expansion centered on North America and Japan (accelerated offline market entry) and active expansion into various countries through B2B are anticipated."