IBK Investment & Securities forecast on Nov. 22 that the performance in the fourth quarter of this year for LG Innotek will be downwardly adjusted. It maintained its investment opinion of "buy," but lowered its target price from the existing 220,000 won to 170,000 won per share.
"Because of recent slow sales of LCD models, the LG Innotek performance in the fourth quarter will be downwardly adjusted and concerns are growing for its sales for next year. However, its performance improvement still exists thanks to a rise in average sales price (ASP)," said Kim Un-ho, a researcher at IBK Investment & Securities.
LG Innotek is estimated to see its sales in the fourth quarter of this year rise by 15.1 percent from the third quarter to 2.6 trillion won, down from the earlier forecast.
Predicting that the sales of all business units excluding light-emitting diode (LED) will increase in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, Kim said, "The operating profit is likely to rise by 23.6 percent to 160.3 billion won in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, a sharp drop from the earlier forecast."