[Click eStock] Green Cross, COVID-19 Vaccine Contract Manufacturing Expectations 'Target Price Up'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Hana Financial Investment announced on the 25th that it expects a significant improvement in Green Cross Corporation's profitability this year and has raised the target stock price to 500,000 KRW.

With the initial shipment of Hunterase, which was approved in China last September, occurring in the first quarter, exports of Hunterase in 2021 are expected to nearly double compared to the previous year. The Southern Hemisphere flu vaccine generated about 40 billion KRW in 2020, and similarly, due to increased concerns about the twin-demic last fall in the Northern Hemisphere, demand for flu vaccines in the Southern Hemisphere is also expected to rise. Sun Min-jung, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, analyzed, "As exports of products developed or produced by Green Cross increase, profitability is expected to improve significantly," adding, "The gross profit margin, estimated at 30.2% in 2020, is expected to improve by about 2 percentage points this year."

Expectations for COVID-19 vaccine contract manufacturing are also rising. In December last year, COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), marking the official start of the COVID-19 vaccine era. So far, only these two vaccines have obtained EUA approval, but vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are also expected to receive EUA approval from the U.S. FDA in early March. Following these, COVID-19 vaccines developed using the commercialized platform technology of antigen vaccines by Novavax and Sanofi/GSK are also expected to sequentially receive EUA approval in the first half of the year.

With many types of vaccines being developed, a shortage of vaccine production facilities is clearly anticipated, making the timing of Green Cross's COVID-19 vaccine contract manufacturing a matter of announcement timing. Researcher Sun stated, "Once a contract signing is announced, news related to sequential COVID-19 vaccine contract manufacturing agreements is expected to follow, and Green Cross is forecasted to achieve significant performance improvements this year," adding, "If diagnostic companies saw major performance improvements due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, vaccine contract manufacturing companies are expected to follow suit in 2021."

The target stock price of 500,000 KRW was calculated considering Green Cross's existing operating value, the value of its subsidiaries, and performance from Hunterase in China and IVIG production in Canada and Ochang, as well as reflecting the value of COVID-19 vaccine contract manufacturing.

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