[Click e-Stock] "No Order Concerns... Hankuk Carbon Target Price Raised"

SK Securities announced on the 25th that it is maintaining its "Buy" investment opinion on Hankuk Carbon and raising its target price from 44,000 won to 58,000 won.

Han Seunghan, an analyst at SK Securities, said, "Expectations for the company's potential entry into the United States are rising, so we present it as our top pick among shipbuilding equipment stocks that can capture all three factors this year: orders, earnings, and momentum," adding, "This is because, since the announcement of the American Marine Action Plan (AMAP) on the 13th of this month, there has been a growing push for the 'Shipbuilding and Port Facilities Act for America's Prosperity and Security,' which includes provisions that allow vessels built overseas to be treated as if they were built in the United States."

Han continued, "Recently, there has been an order for 17 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers under the Mozambique project, a large-scale order of around 20 vessels from Australia's Woodside, and an order of 20 to 30 vessels from ExxonMobil in the United States. In addition, out of the 84 million tons of global LNG projects that reached final investment decision (FID) last year, 62 million tons are North American projects that are the order targets for the three domestic shipbuilders," adding, "From an order-intake perspective, there is absolutely no need for concern."

Earnings also exceeded expectations. Han said, "Operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year came in at 38.3 billion won, up 120.4% year-on-year, beating the market estimate of 33.9 billion won," explaining, "This reflects the impact of foreign exchange gains, increased supply volume of secondary barriers (SB) for China, and a narrowing loss at subsidiaries."