[Weekly HOT Stocks] Seegene, 30% Increase in One Week Amid COVID-19 Resurgence

On the 10th, the price reached 186,200 KRW during trading hours, setting a new 52-week high record

Allplex by Seegene (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) prolongs, Seegene has attracted market attention over the past week.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 12th, Seegene reached an intraday high of 186,200 KRW on the 10th, setting a new 52-week high.

Seegene's stock price showed an upward trend over the week. The closing price, which was 132,200 KRW on the 3rd, rose to 172,500 KRW on the 10th, marking a 30.48% increase over five trading days.

Seegene is boosting its performance by promoting its COVID-19 diagnostic kits. According to Hana Financial Investment, Seegene's Q2 earnings this year are estimated at 255.7 billion KRW in sales and 154 billion KRW in operating profit, representing increases of 773% and 3200% respectively compared to the previous year.

Sun Min-jung, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, explained, "When the sales reached 81.8 billion KRW in Q1, the operating profit margin was 48.6%. Considering that Seegene's operating profit margin was 18.4% for the entire year of 2019, this confirmed the operating profit leverage effect due to the increase in sales scale. With the expected sales scale exceeding 250 billion KRW in Q2, the operating profit margin is expected to achieve over 60%."

As COVID-19 prolongs, Seegene's performance is expected to remain favorable in the second half of the year. In particular, a new product with improved accuracy has been launched by adding one more gene (S gene) to the existing three genes (E, RdRP, N gene), and full-scale sales are expected to begin from the end of last month.

Lee Dal-mi, a researcher at SK Securities, analyzed, "COVID-19 is not subsiding, and concerns about a second wave of spread this fall are increasing, so growth is expected to continue through the second half of this year and next year. Especially, although not yet at a significant level, export volumes are gradually increasing due to the rise in confirmed cases in the U.S., and unlike other competitors facing price declines due to intensified competition, Seegene is still maintaining existing prices, which is considered the company's greatest competitive advantage."

In the KOSDAQ market, foreign investors bought Seegene shares. From the 6th to the 10th, Seegene ranked second among the top net purchases by foreign investors in the KOSDAQ market. During this period, foreign investors net purchased Seegene stocks worth 18.86034 billion KRW.

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