Kyobo Securities projected that ECOPRO BM would continue to see poor performance until the first half of this year. It lowered the target stock price from the previous 200,000 won to 160,000 won. However, it suggested a 'buy' investment opinion. On the 14th, ECOPRO BM's closing price was 127,300 won.

View of ECOPRO BM Cheongju Ochang Headquarters /Courtesy of Ecopro

On the 15th, Choi Bo-young, a researcher at Kyobo Securities, noted, "The poor performance compared to the expectations of the second half of last year is expected to continue until the first half of this year," and stated, "I am adjusting the target stock price downward."

Nevertheless, Research Institute Choi remarked, "Since we have proactively adjusted inventories of nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) products, the burden of one-time expenses is low," adding that "the base effect in the European region has also been sufficiently reflected."

Kyobo Securities estimated that ECOPRO BM's sales in the fourth quarter of last year were 447 billion won, with an operating loss of 20.1 billion won. This figure is below the market expectations of 531.4 billion won in sales and 9.3 billion won in operating profit.

Research Institute Choi explained that "sales will continue to be at a poor level due to sluggish front-line conditions and the effects of customers' inventory adjustments in Europe," and noted, "The low operating rate and falling prices continue to hurt margin spreads." He added that profit margins are expected to improve compared to the previous quarter due to a sharp increase in the won-dollar exchange rate, resulting from the inventory reevaluation losses that were highly reflected in the third quarter of last year.

Research Institute Choi projected that ECOPRO BM would achieve annual sales of 3.7588 trillion won and an operating profit of 35.4 billion won this year. He noted, "With the visible improvement in market conditions until the first half of this year being a challenging situation, the company will procure materials and supplies at a low cost through its green Ecopro nickel project in Indonesia," and added, "We will expand customer bases through competitive product pricing and aim to increase operating rates accordingly."