[Click eStock] "HYBE, Minimal Impact from BTS Military Hiatus"

Daishin Securities maintained a buy rating and a target price of 330,000 KRW for HYBE on the 28th, stating that "contrary to concerns, the impact of BTS's military hiatus (military + hiatus) on the 2024 album segment performance is expected to be minimal."

On the same day, Sujin Lim, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "It is difficult to specify which BTS members will release albums next year, but among the four members who recently enlisted, we expect two solo album releases and one solo album release by Jin, who is scheduled to be discharged in June." BTS currently has all seven members enlisted, aiming for a full-group activity in June 2025. Among them, two members are expected to be discharged next year. Jin, who enlisted the earliest, will be discharged on June 12, and J-Hope, who enlisted next, will be discharged on October 17 of the same year.

HYBE's fourth-quarter sales and operating profit are expected to exceed consensus (market average forecast), at 717.2 billion KRW and 92.9 billion KRW, respectively. This expectation considers the better-than-expected performance of album and music sales in the fourth quarter and the reflection of eight episodes of BTS's documentary in the fourth-quarter results. Last year's fourth-quarter sales were 535.3 billion KRW, with an operating profit of 51.7 billion KRW.

Researcher Lim stated, "The fourth-quarter album and music segment performance is expected to exceed previous estimates at 342.6 billion KRW," adding, "Tomorrow X Together (TXT), ENHYPEN, SEVENTEEN, and Jungkook, who made comebacks in the fourth quarter, all sustained album sales, and NewJeans' 'GOD' and LE SSERAFIM's 'Perfect Night' continue to rank high on overseas music charts." In the performance segment, SEVENTEEN is expected to attract up to 697,000 attendees, including 515,000 at their Japan concerts, resulting in estimated concert sales of 111.4 billion KRW. Merchandise sales, reflecting NewJeans' overseas pop-up store and Weverse service launched this month, are expected to reach 136.5 billion KRW. In the content segment, the eight episodes of BTS-related documentaries are expected to be reflected, with sales rising 34% quarter-on-quarter to 65.4 billion KRW.

HYBE's stock price remained within the 200,000 to 300,000 KRW range this year. It dropped to around 188,000 KRW on November 18 following negative news from China about declining K-pop album sales. Since then, it has recovered to the 200,000 KRW range and is currently trading sideways.

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