[Click eStock] "EcoPro BM Raises Earnings Outlook for This Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] NH Investment & Securities announced on the 4th that it has raised its sales forecast for EcoPro BM by 16% this year, but expects minimal changes in performance for 2024, maintaining a buy rating and a target price of 800,000 KRW.

EcoPro BM's sales in the fourth quarter of last year reached 525.8 billion KRW, a 113.0% increase compared to the same period last year, exceeding market expectations by 21%. Operating profit increased by 166.2% to 38.3 billion KRW.

The 'CAM6' (Samsung SDI JV), originally scheduled to start operations in the first quarter of this year, began early operations in December, resulting in better-than-expected sales. However, profitability is expected to temporarily slightly underperform forecasts due to the reflection of depreciation expenses.

Joo Min-woo, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, stated, "The reason for the early start of CAM6 is presumed to be BMW's demand for early supply of volume," adding, "BMW recently announced plans to increase production personnel by 5% as initial volumes of its newly released pure electric vehicle models (iX, i4) have been sold out."

Due to the early operation of CAM6, sales for this year are projected at 2.9 trillion KRW, and operating profit at 280.5 billion KRW. These figures represent upward revisions of 16% and 13%, respectively, compared to previous forecasts.

Researcher Joo commented, "While the upward revision of this year's performance is positive, an upward revision of the target price requires an upward adjustment of performance beyond 2024, the base year for the target price calculation," adding, "Possible scenarios include the advancement of the European operation target in 2024 and the U.S. operation target in 2025, additional new expansions leading to upward revisions of performance estimates, or achieving margins exceeding 10% through productivity improvements."

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