[Click eStock] "POSCO International, Growth Becoming Visible"

On August 26, Daishin Securities stated that POSCO International is expected to secure a new growth driver in the North American market. The company maintained its "Buy" investment rating and target price of 60,000 won.

In the second quarter of this year, POSCO International recorded sales of 8.1 trillion won, down 1.7% from the same period last year, and operating profit of 313.7 billion won, a decrease of 10.3% year-on-year.

Lee Taehwan, a researcher at Daishin Securities, explained, "SENEX in Australia, which is a key driver of performance growth, is seeing production increase thanks to the completion of the first gas processing facility in February, and a full-scale profit increase will be visible from the second half of this year. However, the power generation segment underperformed due to a decline in SMP and an 8.3 percentage point drop in the power generation utilization rate."

He continued, "Steel trading posted a strong operating profit of 84.7 billion won, driven by increased sales of API steel to Europe and gains from the fire at Brazil's CSN steel mill. Although uncertainty has increased in the second half due to higher U.S. tariffs (50%), we expect stable sales volumes to be maintained given the delays in CSN's recovery. The traction motor core business has entered a phase of significant sales volume growth."

Lee analyzed that the North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) market will become a new growth engine for POSCO International.

He stated, "The United States is actively using LNG exports as a bargaining chip in global tariff negotiations and has expressed its commitment to the Alaska LNG project. POSCO International is responding proactively by signing a North American LNG import contract (1.1 million tons per year for 20 years) and pursuing the acquisition of U.S. unconventional gas fields. This will serve as a new growth driver, following SENEX, the motor core business, and the Indonesia palm oil business."

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