[Into the Stock] SKIET, Spectacular Debut with 'Ttah-sang'... Stock Price Humiliated by Turned-Back Institutions and Foreigners

Lowest Drop Since Listing

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] SK Innovation's battery separator subsidiary SK IE Technology (SKIET), which made a spectacular debut on the stock market in May last year amid the expansion of the secondary battery market, suffered the humiliation of hitting its lowest price since listing on the 15th. The short selling of secondary battery stocks surged with the appearance of LG Energy Solution, and last year's poor performance also seems to have had an impact. It is also analyzed that the intensified competition in the separator market pulled down the stock price.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 17th, SKIET closed at 109,000 KRW on the 15th, down 6.84% from the previous day. This is the lowest closing price since its listing on May 11 last year. On the same day, SKIET's intraday price also dropped to 107,500 KRW at one point. Compared to the intraday high of 249,000 KRW (July 26 last year), it fell by 66.22% in just seven months. During this period, foreigners sold a net amount of 20.7 billion KRW and 16.2 billion KRW respectively on that day, pulling down the stock price.

SKIET, a battery separator subsidiary of SK Innovation, made a spectacular debut on the KOSPI market on May 11 last year, attracting a record number of 4.74 million subscription accounts. On the listing day, it recorded a 'ttasang' (a term for a stock price surge on the first day of listing), confirming investors' strong interest in secondary battery-related stocks.

The decline in SKIET's stock price is analyzed to be due to poor performance and intensified competition in the separator market. SKIET posted sales of 153.4 billion KRW and an operating loss of 29 billion KRW in the fourth quarter of last year. Although sales increased by 13% compared to the same period last year, the operating loss turned negative during the same period. This is significantly below market expectations.

Moreover, the possibility of price cuts in the future due to market share competition with global separator companies also had an impact.

The securities industry has been lowering SKIET's target price one after another. Hi Investment & Securities lowered it from 190,000 KRW to 160,000 KRW, Samsung Securities from 210,000 KRW to 175,000 KRW, and KB Securities from 240,000 KRW to 180,000 KRW.

The outlook for the first quarter of this year is also bleak. Samsung Securities predicted that SKIET's operating profit for the first quarter would be 3.7 billion KRW, falling short of the market forecast of 40.4 billion KRW.

Researcher Cho Hyun-yeol of Samsung Securities said, "It is positive that the company is transitioning to the electric vehicle market with high mid- to long-term growth potential due to overseas facility expansion," but added, "At the time when large-scale expansion volumes are introduced, the semiconductor supply issue and other factors are intensifying the contraction of the upstream industry, which is expected to negatively affect profitability, making it inevitable to fall short of market expectations."

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