[Featured Stock] Seegene Rises to 2nd in KOSDAQ Market Cap, Up 4 Consecutive Days on Earnings Expectations

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Seegene, which has risen to the 2nd largest market capitalization in the KOSDAQ market, continues its upward trend for the fourth consecutive trading day amid expectations for strong earnings.

As of 11 a.m. on the 21st, Seegene was trading at 183,200 KRW, up 2.63% (4,700 KRW) from the previous trading day. Seegene has recorded a return of 58.2% this month alone, showing an explosive stock price movement, significantly outperforming the KOSDAQ index’s return of 5.9% during the same period, which has somewhat stalled.

Foreign investors have been driving the recent price increase by aggressively buying Seegene’s shares. This month, foreigners have purchased 111.4 billion KRW worth of Seegene stock, the largest amount for a single stock in the KOSDAQ market, more than double the 44.8 billion KRW net purchase of NHN Korea Cyber Payment, the second largest net buyer in the KOSDAQ market.

With the rise on the previous day, Seegene climbed to the 2nd largest market capitalization in the KOSDAQ market. Based on the closing price of the previous day, Seegene’s market cap was 4.6828 trillion KRW, pushing Celltrion Pharm (4.6513 trillion KRW) to 3rd place. Until the end of last year, Seegene’s market cap ranking was only 43rd (804 billion KRW), but with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, demand for diagnostic kits surged, causing the stock price to skyrocket and the market cap to increase nearly sixfold, resulting in a vertical rise of 41 ranks.

The recent strength of Seegene is undoubtedly driven by the surge in sales due to the expanded demand for COVID-19 diagnostic kits. The second-quarter earnings are expected to record the highest performance ever, supported by the expansion of diagnostic kit sales. According to financial information provider FnGuide, Seegene’s operating profit for the second quarter of this year is estimated at 156.2 billion KRW, a 3,295.3% increase compared to the same period last year. Sales for the same period are also expected to grow 775.8% to 256.6 billion KRW.

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