[Special Stock] Securities Firms Lower Target Prices... LG Chem Surges Over 5% Today

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] LG Chem, which lowered its target stock price citing expected poor performance this year, is showing a significant upward trend on the 10th.

As of 11:08 AM on the day, LG Chem is trading at 644,000 KRW, up 5.41% (33,000 KRW) compared to the previous day.

This is analyzed to be due to the recent announcement of last year's record-high performance, which boosted the stock price.

LG Chem announced on the 8th that its consolidated operating profit for last year was preliminarily estimated at 5.0255 trillion KRW, an increase of 178.4% compared to the previous year. Sales rose 41.9% to 42.6547 trillion KRW. Net profit surged 479.4% to 3.9539 trillion KRW. Last year's annual operating profit and sales were the largest ever recorded.

However, securities firms are lowering target prices, forecasting poor performance this year.

On the same day, Mirae Asset Securities lowered LG Chem's target stock price by 4%, from 980,000 KRW to 940,000 KRW. Researcher Lee Jin-ho said, "The contraction in chemical product spreads (margins) is larger than expected, so the chemical division's performance is expected to be adjusted this year," explaining the target price cut.

Lee also pointed out, "LG Chem's current stock price is undervalued at a level that discounts LG Energy Solution's equity value by 73%, but unfavorable supply and demand conditions for including LG Energy Solution in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index amid secondary battery competition are expected to continue."

Earlier, Hana Financial Investment also lowered LG Chem's (051910) earnings estimates on the 9th, reducing the target price by 22.9% (240,000 KRW) from 1,050,000 KRW to 810,000 KRW. However, the investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy.'

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