[Click e-Stock] "Lotte Shopping Continues Consumer Recovery Trend... Target Price Raised"

Kiwoom Securities Raises Lotte Shopping Target Price to 200,000 Won
"Department Store Profits Expected to Rise in Q2... Uniqlo Showing Strong Growth"

On May 21, Kiwoom Securities raised its target price for Lotte Shopping to 200,000 won (up 5.2% from the previous target), maintaining its "Buy" investment rating, citing signs of a recovery in consumer spending.

Kiwoom Securities forecast that Lotte Shopping's same-store sales growth rate for domestic department stores in the second quarter would reach 13%. Park Sangjun, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Thanks to strong domestic consumer demand and rapid growth in sales to foreign customers, the department store segment is expected to continue posting solid profit growth in the second quarter due to operating leverage. In particular, robust growth is expected to center around the Myeongdong, Jamsil, and Busan locations, driving sustained high sales growth."

In the first quarter, Lotte Shopping posted sales of 5.156 trillion won, up 5.4% year-on-year, and operating profit of 253 billion won, up 70.6% year-on-year. Operating profit margins for the department store and discount store segments in the first quarter were 22.8% and 2.2%, respectively.

The outlook for overseas operations, including Vietnam, as well as for affiliate FRL Korea (Uniqlo), is also positive. Park added, "In Vietnam, thanks to a strong domestic consumption environment, same-store sales growth for both department stores and discount stores has exceeded 10%. In addition, as favorable consumption trends expand to the middle class, Uniqlo is also seeing strong sales growth, providing further momentum for performance improvement."

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