In early trading on the 24th, OCI Holdings jumped 9% on expectations of stronger solar demand.
As of 9:00 a.m. that day on the Korea Exchange, OCI Holdings was trading at 350,000 won, up 28,000 won (8.7%) from the previous session.
Seon Hong-ju, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities, said, "Starting this year, OCI Holdings will be re-rated from a simple solar materials-focused company to a solar materials and energy company," adding, "Elon Musk said he would expand solar module production capacity (Capa) to 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2028."
Cho Hyeon-ryeol, an analyst at Samsung Securities, also said, "Through this earnings conference call, we shared business opportunities from the expansion of U.S. solar production capacity and the commercialization of space-based solar power, so we judge the likelihood of increased supply to Musk's team to be high," adding, "We confirmed the justification for the recent sharp rally in the stock."
Accordingly, brokerages are raising their target prices for OCI Holdings. Shinyoung Securities raised it from 170,000 won to 400,000 won, and Samsung Securities raised it from 245,000 won to 380,000 won.
However, the previous day OCI Holdings disclosed that on a consolidation basis for the first quarter of this year it posted 892.4 billion won in revenue and 10.8 billion won in operating profit. Those figures were down 5.9% and 77.7%, respectively, from a year earlier.
Results were somewhat sluggish, but as earnings improved at major subsidiaries, including OCI Enterprise, the solar business holding company, it recorded a profit for a second straight quarter since the fourth quarter of last year.