Hana Securities raised its target price for HL Mando on the 12th to 62,000 won from 46,000 won, giving high marks to growth in the company's new business of robot actuators (Actuator). HL Mando's closing price in the previous trading day was 52,200 won.
Song Seon-jae, an analyst at Hana Securities, said, "We raised the target price-to-earnings ratio (PER) to 12 times from 10 times to reflect the long-term value of the robot actuator business that HL Mando is pursuing."
HL Mando recently held a CEO Investor Day and explained its robot actuator business, a future growth driver. According to the company, HL Mando already has precision element technologies such as ball screws (Ball Screw), which are used in core automotive parts, giving it the strength to expand their application to by-wire (By-Wire), the vehicle's electronic control system, and to robot actuator components.
The company believes the commercialization of humanoid (Humanoid) robots hinges on speed and securing mass-production quality. Citing similarities with automotive production, its experience in car manufacturing, and HL Mando's in-house technological capabilities, it expressed strong confidence in entering the robot market.
It also said it aims to verify products in 2026, finalize standardization and specifications in 2028, and begin mass production starting in North America. The sales target is 2.3 trillion won in 2035, equivalent to a 10% share of the robot actuator market.
On HL Mando's business prospects, Song said, "With mass production targeted from 2028, it is early to reflect this in revenue estimates for the next two years, but considering timelines for orders and plant construction, orders are likely to proceed between the second half of 2026 and the first half of 2027."
Song added, "The Humanoid Robot market has strong potential to become larger than the automotive market," and judged that "the value of the auto parts business, which has developed core components such as actuators and built a mass production base, should be re-rated."
HL Mando also announced mid- to long-term targets for its existing auto parts business that day. The company said it would grow sales, which were 8.8 trillion won in 2024, by an average of 8% per year to reach at least 14.1 trillion won by 2030.
This growth is expected to be driven not only by higher sales (11.7 trillion won) from expanding customers and volumes for existing product lines, but also by new sales (2.4 trillion won) from next-generation product lines that are core to future vehicles such as SbW, EMB, and HPC, as well as additional sales from new businesses like robot actuators.
In addition, HL Mando said it would secure financial soundness by improving profitability. It said it would raise the operating margin to 6.0% or higher in 2030 from 4.1% in 2024 through measures such as reducing material costs and enhancing R&D efficiency. It also said it would increase return on equity (ROE) from 5.9% to above 10%, and lower the debt ratio from 164% to the 120%–130% range. It further emphasized shareholder returns by presenting a dividend payout ratio of at least 25% in 2030.