[Click eStock] "POSCO Holdings, Steel Market Improvement in Second Half"

Hyundai Motor Securities Report

Hyundai Motor Securities analyzed on the 8th that POSCO Holdings will show a mid- to long-term stock price increase due to improvements in the steel market and the rise in lithium value. Accordingly, it maintained a 'Buy' investment rating and a target price of 470,000 KRW.

Hyunwook Park, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, stated, "We forecast POSCO Holdings' sales in the second quarter of this year to be 20.0763 trillion KRW, operating profit to decrease by 39% year-on-year but increase by 81% quarter-on-quarter to 1.2751 trillion KRW," adding, "POSCO's operating profit is expected to increase by 202% quarter-on-quarter to 759.6 billion KRW, driving the performance growth compared to the first quarter."

Researcher Park explained, "The reason for expecting POSCO's performance to improve is the anticipated improvement in raw material spreads," and added, "Sales volume is expected to recover to 7.54 million tons in Q4 last year, 8.16 million tons in Q1 this year, and 8.45 million tons in Q2."

The global steel price increase in the first quarter of this year is expected to lead to price hikes in the second quarter. The effect of export price increases due to the rise in the KRW-USD exchange rate is also a positive factor.

Researcher Park emphasized, "Although Chinese steel prices showed adjustments in the second quarter of this year, the steel market in China and major Western regions is expected to improve in the second half of the year," and added, "Lithium production capacity is expected to expand from the current 100,000 tons to 300,000 tons by 2030, and when reflecting the additional lithium value, POSCO Holdings' stock price will trend upward in the mid-term."

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