[Click eStock] "Celltrion Healthcare, US Biosimilar Full-Scale Growth... Target Price Up 27%"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Hana Financial Investment evaluated on the 9th that as the biosimilars market in the United States is beginning to bloom in earnest, Celltrion Healthcare is expected to deliver surprise earnings every quarter this year as well. Accordingly, the target stock price was raised by 26.8% from the previous 68,607 KRW to 87,000 KRW. The investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy.'

Researcher Sun Minjung of Hana Financial Investment stated, "Celltrion Healthcare's Q4 sales amounted to 313.6 billion KRW, a 66.2% increase compared to the previous year, and operating profit turned positive at 42.9 billion KRW, significantly surpassing consensus expectations with a surprise performance," adding, "This is the first earnings surprise since its listing in July 2017."

Researcher Sun analyzed, "The proportion of North American sales, where prices are estimated to be higher than in Europe resulting in higher margins, increased to 40%, up 6 percentage points year-over-year and 5 percentage points quarter-over-quarter," and "From Q4, the supply of Remsima (IV formulation), which had been suspended for five quarters from Q3 2018 to Q3 2019, resumed, offsetting the cost of Remsima inventory and increasing the gross profit margin (GPM) by 11.3 percentage points compared to the previous quarter."

The high-performance trend is expected to continue this year as well.

Researcher Sun forecasted, "The proportion of U.S. sales for existing products Remsima, Truxima, and Herzuma is expected to significantly increase to 42% this year, with operating profit margin rising by 5.1 percentage points year-over-year to 12.6%," and "Remsima SC sales are expected to be recognized in Q1, and with the effect of launching three new products this year, sales are estimated to increase by 71% year-over-year to 1.9 trillion KRW, and operating profit is projected to increase by 187% year-over-year to 238 billion KRW."

In particular, she emphasized, "As the biosimilars market in the U.S. fully blooms this year, Celltrion Healthcare is expected to achieve high growth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.