[Click eStock] "Maccus to Cancel 37% of Total Shares... Target Price Raised on Aggressive Shareholder Return Plan"

On July 23, LS Securities raised its target price for Maccus to 33,000 won, noting that the company has attracted market attention by announcing a shareholder return plan to gradually cancel 6 million treasury shares over a three-year period from this year through 2027.

The number of shares to be canceled represents approximately 37.1% of the total outstanding shares. Broken down by year, the company plans to cancel 12.4% of shares in 2025, 14.1% in 2026, and 16.4% in 2027, respectively.

Jung Hongsik, a researcher at LS Securities, stated, "Maccus announced its shareholder return plan (2025-2027) through a disclosure yesterday," adding, "Of its 7,472,904 treasury shares (representing 46.2% of total shares), the company plans to cancel 6 million shares, with 2 million shares to be canceled each year."

There will also be significant changes in terms of dividends. The company has stated its intention to allocate at least 30% of its annual standalone net profit to shareholder returns. However, the proportions allocated to dividends, treasury share repurchases, and cancellations will be adjusted flexibly. Accordingly, the dividend per share (DPS) is expected to increase from 150 won in 2023 to 200 won in 2024, 400 won in 2025, 460 won in 2026, and 525 won in 2027.

Jung noted, "Based on our estimates, if we assume that dividends and treasury share repurchases/cancellations each account for 50% of shareholder returns, the company's DPS will increase significantly. In addition, a higher-than-expected increase in EPS is also anticipated due to the proactive shareholder return announcement."

However, Jung also pointed out that investors need to weigh the burden from a short-term surge in share price against the company's long-term growth potential. While Maccus could see a short-term share price increase due to its high proportion of treasury shares and the shareholder return event, the company also has fundamental growth momentum, such as diversifying demand sources for FPGA semiconductors and the introduction of key raw materials for HBM equipment.

Jung advised, "It is important to consider both the potential for a short-term surge due to supply-demand factors and the possibility of long-term fundamental improvement (earnings growth)."