[Click e-Stock] "Hanatour Set for Sharp Rebound in Travel Demand This Year... Target Price Raised"

Target Price Raised 6% from Previous Level

On February 4, Hana Securities raised its target price for Hanatour to 67,000 won from the previous 63,000 won, projecting that travel demand will rebound sharply this year. It maintained its "Buy" investment rating.

Lee Kihoon, an analyst at Hana Securities, explained, "We raised the target price by 6% from the previous level by slightly revising up our outlook for the number of package tour customers and reflecting the higher 2026 earnings per share (EPS) forecast," adding, "The industry has clearly passed the worst phase, and we see the stock as undervalued at only 10 times the expected 2026 price-to-earnings ratio (PER)."

In the fourth quarter of last year, Hanatour posted revenue of 175.2 billion won, up 23% year-on-year, and operating profit of 27.4 billion won, up 102%. Operating profit for the quarter reached a record high and was in line with the consensus (the average of securities firms' forecasts). Lee commented, "In the fourth quarter, the number of package tour customers increased 3% to 605,000, and the average selling price (ASP) rose 16% to 1.09 million won. Thanks to a 15% increase in the number of customers in October, when there was a long holiday, performance was quite strong," and added, "What stands out in selling, general and administrative expenses is that, despite the long holiday, charter flight purchase costs increased only 29% to 37.4 billion won, which led to a significant improvement in the operating margin. This was driven by a substantial gain in efficiency through improved accuracy in AI-based demand forecasting."

Hana Securities forecasts that Hanatour's package tour customer volume will grow by about 10% this year. Lee said, "This is a slight upward revision from the previous 8.5%. In 2025, there were many domestic and external negative factors, and the business environment remained difficult even with the long holiday. However, travel inevitably generates deferred demand, so we expect a steep rebound this year." He continued, "From the first quarter of this year, the rebound is likely to be stronger than expected, and considering the high base effect in the second and third quarters of last year, we project average growth of around 15% in the second and third quarters of this year. Based on this, we forecast full-year operating profit to increase 24% year-on-year to 71.3 billion won."

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