[Click eStock] Bioptro, Ride the Super Boom 'Expansion Cycle'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Hana Financial Investment announced on the 11th that it has initiated coverage on Bioptro with a buy rating and a target price of 14,000 KRW. The target price was calculated by applying a target price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of 10 times to the expected earnings per share (EPS) of 1,407 KRW for 2023.

Researcher Kim Doo-hyun of Hana Financial Investment explained, "The reason for using Bioptro's expected EPS for 2023 (Q1 2024) in the target price calculation is that the production capacity of BBT equipment is expected to increase significantly in 2022, and the launch of new FC-BGA equipment in the second half of the year is anticipated, which is expected to positively impact the 2023 performance."

Bioptro is developing FC-BGA BBT equipment, and with the expected launch of new equipment in the second half of 2022, it is anticipated to benefit from a trickle-down effect. The FC-BGA BBT equipment market is monopolized by Nidec Read due to its technical difficulty. Nidec Read is expected to proactively respond to the expansion of major Japanese customers rather than domestic ones, following aggressive capacity expansions by upstream companies. Therefore, tight equipment supply and demand are expected, and with Bioptro's new FC-BGA equipment launch expected in the second half of this year, a trickle-down effect allocated from major domestic customers is anticipated.

Bioptro's 2022 performance is projected to be sales of 33.2 billion KRW (+43.7% YoY) and operating profit of 8.1 billion KRW (+50.1% YoY). The 2023 performance is forecasted to be sales of 51.1 billion KRW (+53.9% YoY) and operating profit of 15.5 billion KRW (+91.4% YoY).

Researcher Kim emphasized, "Bioptro is expected to achieve performance growth by increasing ASP due to rising demand for BBT equipment from Greater China customers, improving product mix through expanded sales of high value-added Package Substrate equipment, and fully ramping up production capacity."

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