[Special Stock] SK Innovation Rises on 1Q Earnings Surprise Outlook

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK Innovation is on the rise from the start of trading on expectations that its first-quarter operating profit will exceed forecasts.

As of 10:35 a.m. on the 18th, SK Innovation is trading at 216,000 KRW, up 4.10% compared to the previous trading day.

Hyun-yeol Cho, a researcher at Samsung Securities, forecasted that SK Innovation's first-quarter operating profit this year will be 1.3018 trillion KRW, exceeding the recently revised consensus (1.0139 trillion KRW) by an additional 28%.

Researcher Cho stated, "Due to the rise in oil prices, inventory-related profits have significantly increased, and refining margins have improved, leading to expected surpluses in chemicals and lubricants." He analyzed, "The strong performance in refining in the first half will support consolidated earnings, and in the second half, a meaningful reduction in losses in the battery business is expected to act as momentum for the stock price." However, he also expected that the battery segment will continue to incur losses due to ongoing initial fixed cost burdens from the operation of new plants in the United States and Hungary.

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