[Market Focus] SBS Surges Over 8% on Expectations for Earnings Growth in Second Half

SBS showed strong performance in early trading on May 15. Investor sentiment appears to have improved on expectations that the company's earnings growth will accelerate in the second half of the year due to the Netflix effect.

As of 9:34 a.m. on this day, SBS was trading at 22,450 won, up 8.72% from the previous trading day. After opening at 21,150 won, the stock continued to climb.

On the same day, Lee Kihoon, a researcher at Hana Securities, commented on SBS, saying, "The effects of the six-year content supply agreement signed with Netflix in December last year are already visible from the first quarter." He added, "As we move into the second half, the recovery of industry conditions and momentum from Netflix are expected to become more pronounced, making it possible for SBS to achieve quarterly operating profit of around 20 billion won." In the first quarter of this year, SBS recorded sales of 206.3 billion won and operating loss of 6.9 billion won, outperforming the consensus estimate of a 14.7 billion won loss.

Choi Yonghyun, a researcher at KB Securities, also stated, "Two titles provided to Netflix are scheduled to air in the second half, which means the business division can expect high profitability." He added that he expects separate operating profit of more than 10 billion won per quarter starting from the third quarter.