[Click eStock] "EcoPro BM Expected to Break Quarterly Record Again in 3Q"

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Daishin Securities forecasted on the 9th that Ecopro BM will continue its strong performance and is expected to once again achieve its highest quarterly earnings in the third quarter of this year. The target stock price was raised from 310,000 KRW to 350,000 KRW. The investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy.'

Ecopro BM posted results in the second quarter that exceeded market expectations. On a separate basis, sales increased by 64% year-on-year to 310.7 billion KRW, and operating profit rose by 121% to 30.7 billion KRW. Sangwon Han, a researcher at Daishin Securities, analyzed, "Along with front-end demand growth, a lagging price increase reflecting rising raw material costs led to balanced sales growth in non-IT sectors, electric vehicles (EV), and energy storage systems (ESS). Notably, the operating profit margin rose to 9.9%, achieving profit growth exceeding sales growth, which is attributed to volume increases and cost structure improvements such as higher utilization rates of the 5th plant (CAM5)."

Daishin Securities estimated Ecopro BM's consolidated operating profit for the third quarter to increase by 79% year-on-year to 31.5 billion KRW. Researcher Han explained, "With continued sales growth and maintained high profitability, the company is expected to once again set a record for the highest quarterly performance."

As part of Ecopro BM's mid-to-long-term growth plan, the annual production capacity of cathode materials is projected to reach 290,000 tons and sales to 8 trillion KRW by 2025, an upward revision from the previous 180,000 tons in 2014. This corresponds to an average annual sales growth rate of 56%. To achieve this, Ecopro BM announced a new investment in Europe with an annual capacity of 110,000 tons, and its subsidiary Ecopro EM also expanded its expansion plan from 60,000 tons to 90,000 tons. Researcher Han stated, "Considering that new investments are also being reviewed in major hubs such as the United States besides Europe, there is a high possibility that the mid-to-long-term production capacity targets will be further raised. Additionally, achieving vertical integration through affiliates such as GEM and CNG within Ecopro, which ensures sustained high cost competitiveness, is also an attractive investment point."

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