Hana Securities analyzed that HYBE's performance was somewhat disappointing in the first quarter due to the limited return of affiliated artists this year, but that performance is expected to improve as the return of Namsung groups accelerates in the second quarter. The target stock price was raised to 330,000 won, and the investment opinion was maintained as "buy."
Lee Gi-hoon of Hana Securities noted, "With expectations for the easing of the ban on group activities, we present HYBE as the top preferred stock."
HYBE's revenue in the first quarter of this year was 500.6 billion won, and operating profit was 216.2 billion won, which fell somewhat short of market expectations (consensus). With the unit activities of Seventeen and the return of Le Sserafim, album sales recorded approximately 2.9 million copies. In the events business, J-Hope's world tour and Seventeen's Asia tour attracted 900,000 audience members. Weverse also recorded 10 million monthly active users (MAU) thanks to J-Hope's return.
BTS is expected to return as a complete group in June. Considering that the stock prices of each agency rose after the returns of TVXQ and Big Bang in the past, it was forecasted that HYBE will grow to a market capitalization of 15 trillion won next year.
Within the next year, the debut of four new male groups is also scheduled. In June, aoen, which recently completed auditions, will debut in Japan, while a five-member group will debut in Korea in the third quarter. A debut program will begin in South America in June, and in the United States, preparations for a male group are underway through collaboration with Cats Eye, which has a successful debut, with 90 million subscribers on YouTube.