The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. They can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Building on the popularity of the new titles it released in Korea last year, we expect success for Webzen’s MU IP-based licensed games to be rolled out in China in 2021.Anticipate fourth hit in
Hankook Tire announced on Feb. 5 the company’s 2020 financial results with consolidated global sales of 6.454 trillion won and an operating profit of 628 billion won.In the midst of global economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hankook Tire sustained qualitative growth as operating profit i
Hyosung Heavy Industries announced on Feb. 5 that it has signed a joint venture (JV) deal with Linde plc, the world’s largest industrial gas company, to promote its liquefied hydrogen business.Under the contract, Linde Hydrogen will build a 13,000-ton liquefied hydrogen plant on the site a site in U
Bukwang Pharmaceutical said on Feb. 5 that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on an investigational new drug (IND) application for a Phase II clinical trial of COVID-19 treatment LevovirThe clinical trial will be conducted in a multicenter randomized double-bli
KT&G recorded its best-ever business results in 2020 thanks to remarkable growth in the global markets.KT&G announced in a briefing session on Feb. 4 that it racked up 5,301.6 billion won in sales on a consolidated basis in 2020, up 6.8 percent from a year before. This was the first time KT&G's
Travis County of Texas, the United States has started to make preparations to attract Samsung Electronics’ investment in a new semiconductor plant.The Austin Business Journal, a local media outlet in Texas, reported on Jan. 26 (local time) that the county has mapped out a plan to provide incentives
The Export-Import Bank of Korea announced on Feb. 4 that it has succeeded in issuing global bonds worth US$1.5 billion to investors around the world. The bonds carry the lowest spread in the history of Korean foreign-currency public bonds.The bonds were issued in a triple tranche structure -- three
Amorepacific Corp. announced on Feb. 4 that it has started to implement a 4R’s strategy to reduce plastics consumption.The 4R’s are "Recycle" (boosting packaging and container recyclability), "Reduce" (reducing the use of oil-based plastics and unnecessary plastics), "Reuse" (increasing the reuse of
Amorepacific and LG Household & Health Care (LG H&H), the two largest players in the domestic cosmetics industry, posted sharply contrasting results last year amid a COVID-19-sparked crisis.Amorepacific, a major affiliate of Amorepacific Group, racked up 4,432.2 billion won in sales and 143 billion
Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings announced on Feb. 4 that its two affiliates, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries had canceled 10 VLCC construction contracts worth 980 billion won due to the Oceanian client’s failure to pay construction fees within the deadline.Hyundai H
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at ryan.ra@nhqv.com. – Ed. Humedix should report solid 4Q20 earnings thanks to rising sales of aesthetics products and diagnostic kits. From 2021, Humedix has been beefing up its aesthetics lineups via the launch of a new HA f
The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association announced on Feb. 4 that the global automobile sales fell 14 percent last year to decrease for the third consecutive year. The emerging markets including India and Brazil showed a year-on-year decline of more than 20 percent and the sales in the United
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology announced on Feb. 4 that its research team led by bio and brain engineering professor Jeong Ki-hun has developed an ultra-thin light-field camera capable of providing a high-resolution image by using a nano-metallic light absorbing layer.A light
The Economic Promotion and Safety Control of Hydrogen Act became effective on Feb. 5. The South Korean government is planning to accelerate the development of the hydrogen industry based on the first law of its kind in the world.The government released its roadmap to that end two years ago. Under th
The net profit of Mirae Asset Life Insurance dropped last year due to a decline in the value of its overseas assets.The Financial Supervisory Service announced on Feb. 5 that the company’s loss was approximately 47.9 billion won for the first three quarters of last year.“The overseas asset values sh
Display driver ICs (DDIs) as well as automotive semiconductor chips are being undersupplied globally. The current situation is driving up the prices of semiconductor chips and TV panels.According to market research firm Omdia, the average DDI selling price for the first quarter of this year is estim
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at drlee@kbfg.com. -- Ed. 4Q20 OP misses consensus on higher costs— Studio Dragon reported 4Q20 revenue of KRW147.7bn (+41.3% YoY) and OP of KRW4.6bn (turn to profit YoY). Revenue exceeded consensus by 12.8%, but OP fell short by 58.8%. By
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at drlee@kbfg.com. -- Ed. 4Q20 OP beats consensus — CJ ENM posted 4Q20 revenue of KRW944.3bn (-6.9% YoY) and OP of KRW87.9bn (+106.0% YoY). While revenue fell short of consensus by 1.2%, OP exceeded by 5.8%. We attribute the solid OP to: (
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at leesunhwa@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Target price cut but maintain BUY We cut our TP to KRW100,000 from KRW110,000 for KT&G but maintain BUY considering the current stock price and upside potential. Our new TP reflects downward revisions to 2021
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at shinay.park@kbfg.com. -- Ed. TP raised to KRW90,000; Earnings growth to trigger rally We reiterate BUY on AmoreG. We revise up our TP by 36% to KRW90,000 as we reflect: (1) an adjustment to WACC (6.31%→7.60%) triggered by an increase i