"Green Cross Flourishes with 'Positive Developments', Stock Price Soars... Consecutive New Highs for Two Days"

Good Performance and Supply Conditions, but Contract for Vaccine Contract Manufacturing and Market Approval Pending

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Green Cross is continuing its recent strong stock price rally, supported by favorable earnings and supply-demand conditions. High growth is expected to continue next year as well.

As of 9:53 AM on the 4th, Green Cross recorded 402,500 KRW, up 6.48% (24,500 KRW) from the previous day. During the session, it rose to 418,500 KRW, setting a new 52-week high again in just one day. It has maintained a strong trend for six consecutive trading days.

Earnings and supply-demand factors have driven the recent stock price increase. In the third quarter, Green Cross posted consolidated sales of 419.6 billion KRW and operating profit of 50.7 billion KRW. These figures represent increases of 14.5% and 37.1% respectively compared to the same period last year, marking the highest quarterly sales ever and the highest operating profit in six years. Minjung Sun, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, "The reason for the earnings improvement was the increase in flu vaccine sales due to concerns about the twin-demic." Domestic flu vaccine sales recorded 78.3 billion KRW, up 48.6% year-on-year. It is estimated that exports worth about 32 billion KRW will be possible in the second half of this year due to increased demand in the Northern Hemisphere."

The supply-demand situation is also favorable. Institutions have been net buyers of Green Cross for six consecutive trading days until the previous day, purchasing a total of 64.059 billion KRW during this period. Foreign investors have also been net buyers this month, acquiring 7.384 billion KRW.

Various positive factors have also had a favorable impact on the stock price. Green Cross recently signed a contract with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) for contract manufacturing (CMO) of up to 500 million doses of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. In September, Hunterase, a Hunter syndrome treatment developed by Green Cross, received marketing approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China. Researcher Sun said, "The initial shipment to China is expected to occur early next year, and Green Cross could record sales of about 20 billion KRW in the first year of marketing."

Due to favorable earnings and supply contract signings, securities firms have successively raised their target prices for Green Cross. KTB Investment & Securities raised its target price from 300,000 KRW to 390,000 KRW, Hana Financial Investment to 365,000 KRW, and Samsung Securities to 350,000 KRW. Hyerin Lee, a researcher at KTB Investment & Securities, said, "Typically, earnings momentum and stock prices peak in the third quarter when domestic flu vaccine results are concentrated, but the momentum from COVID-19 vaccine CMO orders at the end of the year and early next year could highlight additional stock price increases."

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