Girl Groups Flock In, Entertainment Stocks Soar

YG Entertainment Soars 30% Since Last Month

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] As news of K-pop girl groups' comebacks and debuts in the second half of the year continues to be announced, the stock prices of entertainment listed companies are heating up. Recently, they have proven their box office power surpassing boy groups' album sales, raising expectations for record-breaking earnings.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 9th, from the 1st of last month to the previous trading day, YG Entertainment surged 30%. HYBE and SM Entertainment rose 26% and 20%, respectively, while JYP Entertainment increased by 19.6%.

The stock price surge was driven by news of girl group debuts and comebacks. Girl groups, once considered less profitable due to weaker fandoms compared to boy groups, are showing a different trend recently. As entertainment companies focus their firepower on girl groups, some groups have achieved million-seller status (over 1 million copies sold) from their first album orders. Last month, SM's girl group 'aespa' recorded a historic first-week sales volume exceeding 1.4 million copies with their second mini-album 'Girls.' 'NewJeans,' which debuted on the 1st of this month, set a new record by selling 440,000 copies with their debut album alone. The cumulative shipments of debut albums by JYP Entertainment's 'NMIXX' and HYBE's 'LE SSERAFIM,' who debuted in the first half of the year, also surpassed 400,000 copies, marking record-breaking sales for girl groups. YG Entertainment's stock price surged just on the announcement of 'BLACKPINK's comeback.

Researcher Hyein Lee from Yuanta Securities explained, "Established girl groups like JYP Entertainment's 'TWICE' and SM's 'Red Velvet' are also seeing increased new fandom inflows, boosting sales of back catalog albums. The debut albums of rookie girl groups who debuted this year are selling rapidly, shortening the break-even point period, leading to upward revisions of growth targets and future expected revenue generation using these groups."

With world tours and comeback schedules of other artists lined up until the end of the year, expectations for earnings growth are also rising. JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and SM are projected to record profits exceeding 20 billion KRW in the third quarter, potentially posting record-breaking results. SM is expected to achieve revenue of 25.1 billion KRW in Q3, an 80% increase year-on-year, boosted by album releases from Girls' Generation and Super Junior, along with concert profits from NCT Dream. JYP Entertainment anticipates profits of 26.4 billion KRW, a 45% increase from the previous year, as all affiliated artists including TWICE, NMIXX, ITZY, NiziU, and Stray Kids are active. YG Entertainment is forecasted to grow from an estimated 5 billion KRW in Q2 to 21 billion KRW in Q3, reflecting BLACKPINK's comeback. HYBE is expected to see a decline due to BTS's absence, with the target stock price halved from the previous 400,000 KRW range to 200,000 KRW. However, considering the NewJeans phenomenon and the scheduled debut of a Japanese boy group in the second half, the rookie momentum is believed to remain alive.

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