Amorepacific Approaches 300,000 Won Price Mark

Foreign Buying Momentum Continues... Additional Boost Expected Upon Duty-Free Market Recovery

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Amorepacific is on the verge of surpassing 300,000 KRW as foreign buying momentum continues. Following a clear improvement in earnings in the first quarter of this year, the growth trend is expected to continue, making the future stock outlook positive.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 20th, Amorepacific has risen 6.91% so far this month until the previous day. It has shown a strong upward trend with a 44.83% increase since the beginning of the year. On the 17th, the stock price reached an intraday high of 299,000 KRW, setting a 52-week high, and on the 18th, it again rose to 299,000 KRW intraday, bringing the breakthrough of 300,000 KRW within reach. If Amorepacific surpasses 300,000 KRW, it will be the first time since July 2018.

While foreigners have been selling continuously in the domestic stock market recently, they have been steadily buying Amorepacific, driving the stock price up. Foreign investors have net purchased Amorepacific for 11 consecutive trading days recently. They have not sold even once this month. Foreigners bought Amorepacific shares worth 66.4 billion KRW this month.

Amorepacific, which has shown steady strength in stock price this year due to expectations of consumer recovery, especially ignited foreign buying and stock price momentum by recording strong first-quarter earnings. Amorepacific posted first-quarter sales of 1.2528 trillion KRW, up 10.8% year-on-year, and operating profit of 176.2 billion KRW, up 189.2%.

Although there are concerns about valuation pressure due to the strong stock price rise, rapid profitability recovery is expected to alleviate this. Jomi Jin, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, "The speed and level of earnings improvement exceed market expectations, easing the biggest concern of high valuation pressure," adding, "Since profitability is recovering across channels, this is not simply an improvement due to last year's base effect but the beginning phase of mid- to long-term earnings growth."

The recovery of the duty-free market is expected to be an additional momentum. Son Hyoju, a researcher at Hanwha Investment & Securities, said, "The 18% growth in duty-free store sales in the first quarter is encouraging even though air routes have not yet opened," adding, "Although it still lags 17% compared to the first quarter of 2019 before COVID-19, if the full recovery of the duty-free channel becomes visible in the future, additional earnings growth momentum will appear."

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