LIG Nex1 shares fell more than 10% in early trading on the 7th. LIG Nex1 posted results in the third quarter (July–September) that beat market expectations, but selling appears to have poured in as assessments said there is no driver for a share price rise for the time being.
LIG Nex1 stock was trading at 418,000 won on the KOSPI market at 9:28 a.m. on the 7th. The share price fell 13.1% (63,000 won) from the previous day. It is the biggest decliner among KOSPI market listings.
LIG Nex1 reported third-quarter revenue of 1.0492 trillion won and operating profit of 89.5 billion won. Those figures were 6.5% and 15.8% higher, respectively, than market estimates. This year's cumulative order intake surpassed 6 trillion won, and the order backlog (work in hand) swelled to 23.4271 trillion won.
However, despite the strong third-quarter results, LIG Nex1 kept its full-year operating margin (operating profit ÷ revenue) outlook at 8%. It said the burden of expenses for product development and other items will increase in the fourth quarter (October–December).
Researcher Choi Jeong-hwan at LS Securities said, "Due to seasonal factors in the fourth quarter, provisions for development-related losses will be larger than in the third quarter, and routine development expenses are also expected to be concentrated."
Some also say that, even with the weakness on the day, the stock needs an additional catalyst for gains as the year-to-date rise is nearing 70%, but such drivers are lacking.
On the day, Researcher Byun Yong-jin at iM Securities downgraded his investment view on LIG Nex1 to "neutral (Hold)." Byun said, "LIG Nex1 is delivering strong results and its order backlog is also solid, but in many respects it is somewhat difficult to find short-term momentum to drive (the share price) higher."
However, many also see a high likelihood that results will trend upward through 2027 as LIG Nex1 has built up its order backlog. Researcher Jang Nam-hyeon at Korea Investment & Securities raised his target price for LIG Nex1 to 700,000 won on the day, saying, "Given the pace of profit improvement, we see no reason for a valuation discount."