[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] IBK Investment & Securities announced on the 10th that it is maintaining its “Buy” rating and 100,000 won target price for E-MART Co., Ltd.(139480).

Namsung, an analyst at IBK Investment & Securities, predicted, “We expect E-MART Co., Ltd.’s consolidated operating results for the third quarter to fall short of our previous estimates and market forecasts.”
He analyzed, “Initially, we interpreted the sharp growth in core business performance and the deterioration of ‘SCK’ (Starbucks Korea) results in the second quarter as temporary factors. We projected that earnings growth would be possible due to a narrowing of the deficit driven by improved profitability at ‘SSG.com.’ However, it now appears that SCK’s slump in the third quarter will exceed previous expectations, making it highly likely that operating profit will decline year-over-year.”
Accordingly, he revised his earnings estimates, projecting third-quarter consolidated revenue of 7.7413 trillion won (+4.6% year-over-year) and operating profit of 128.5 billion won (-15.1%).
The primary reason for the third-quarter earnings revision is the weakening profitability of SCK. The decline in customer traffic resulting from SCK-related issues has persisted through the third quarter, and the resulting increase in fixed costs is expected to reduce profitability. SCK’s operating profit in the third quarter of last year was 60 billion won.
Analyst Nam stated, “We estimate an operating loss of 24.2 billion won for the third quarter of 2026, and the contribution to operating profit is expected to decrease by approximately 84.2 billion won due to this underperformance,” but he emphasized, “Since the same-store sales growth rate for discount stores is expected to exceed 5%, and we anticipate earnings growth from subsidiaries (base effect at SHINSEGAE FOOD and growth at Chosun Hotel) as well as a reduction in SG CO., LTD. (SSG.com)’s losses, the impact of SCK’s underperformance is not expected to be fully reflected.”
He added, “For the time being, the earnings trend depends on SCK’s direction. While it is difficult to anticipate short-term earnings improvement, cost pressure is likely to ease due to the strong won, and factors contributing to earnings declines are expected to be limited given the continuation of the growth strategy through new store openings and the gradual impact of base effects.”