[Click eStock] "SM Minimizes Q2 Earnings Gap with Increased Album Sales"

Ebest Investment & Securities Presents 'Buy' Investment Opinion and 40,000 KRW Target Price... Closing Price on 16th is 32,000 KRW

Source: SM

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] An analysis has emerged that SM's second-quarter album sales increased compared to the previous year, minimizing the performance gap.

According to Ebest Investment & Securities on the 17th, SM's second-quarter earnings are estimated at 140.5 billion KRW in sales and 3.8 billion KRW in operating profit. These figures represent decreases of 12% and 2.6%, respectively, compared to the previous year. However, it is expected to perform better than the lowered market expectations.

SM's second-quarter album sales increased by 150% compared to the previous year. In particular, NCT and EXO jointly sold 2.34 million albums, accounting for 87% of the album sales.

The move to capture the market through online K-POP concerts is viewed positively. In the second quarter, six artist teams from SM held online concerts. In collaboration with Naver, the platform was provided by Naver, and the content by SM, with approximately 400,000 viewers attending six performances. Kim Hyunyong, a researcher at Ebest Investment & Securities, analyzed, "Although it cannot be compared to the scale of offline concerts, the fact that K-POP concerts can also be delivered as untact content and that SM is taking the lead in the market is a positive sign."

Ebest Investment & Securities gave SM a 'Buy' investment rating with a target price of 40,000 KRW. The target price was raised by more than 20% from the previous 33,000 KRW. The closing price on the 16th was 32,000 KRW. Researcher Kim said, "Currently, the entertainment sector is in a strong investment sentiment phase, dispelling performance concerns due to the IPO expectations of the leading company Big Hit and rookie momentum from each agency. SM is considered the top pick among the three listed entertainment companies as it has solid performance support from its boy groups and a rookie girl group ready to debut at any time."

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