Sigen Hits Consecutive Record Highs... Target Price Up to 200,000 Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Koh Hyung-kwang] Seegene, the leading diagnostic kit stock that had experienced a lull in its upward trend for a while, has recently resumed its rise, setting new all-time highs. This reflects expectations that earnings will significantly increase due to the resurgence of COVID-19. Securities firms are consecutively raising their target prices for Seegene.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 10th, as of 9:50 a.m., Seegene was trading at 162,400 KRW on the KOSDAQ market, up 8.5% from the previous trading day. This is the highest price since its listing, marking a new high for four consecutive days. Seegene's stock price has risen 43.9% just this month and surged 429% compared to the end of last year. Foreign investors have led the upward trend by net buying Seegene shares worth 53 billion KRW over the past month. Its market capitalization has exceeded 4.26 trillion KRW, ranking 4th within KOSDAQ.

Seegene's rise is interpreted as reflecting expectations that diagnostic kit sales will increase due to the resurgence of COVID-19. The global daily confirmed COVID-19 cases are approaching 220,000, indicating that the spread is not slowing down.

Securities firms are consecutively raising their target prices for Seegene. SK Securities forecasts Seegene's Q2 sales and operating profit this year to be 265.6 billion KRW and 169.1 billion KRW, respectively, representing increases of 806% and 3542% compared to the same period last year. Hana Financial Investment also estimates Seegene's Q2 sales to increase by 773% to 255.7 billion KRW and operating profit to rise by 3200% to 154 billion KRW. Both securities firms set the target price at 200,000 KRW, with SK Securities raising its previous target price (41,000 KRW at the end of February) by 387.8%. Researcher Lee Dal-mi of SK Securities explained, "Record-breaking quarterly earnings are expected. As COVID-19 diagnostic kits experience high growth, a significant improvement compared to Q1 is anticipated due to the leverage effect."

Experts predict that COVID-19 is not subsiding and concerns about a second wave this fall are increasing, so diagnostic kit-related stocks are expected to continue growing not only in the second half of this year but also into next year. Researcher Sun Min-jung of Hana Financial Investment stated, "Although COVID-19 diagnostic kit sales decreased in April, they have since shifted to an increasing trend, likely raising the overall sales volume. Since the global spread is not slowing down, diagnostic kit sales are expected to steadily increase for the time being."

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