[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] HANWHA INVESTMENT & SECURITIES announced on the 28th that it is maintaining its “Buy” rating and target price of 5,500 won for #HL D&I HALLA CORPORATION.

Song Yu-rim, an analyst at HANWHA INVESTMENT & SECURITIES, said, “We expect the stable earnings trend to continue in the third quarter. As earnings continue to improve, we anticipate the company will make efforts—whether through growth or dividends—to break out of the current period of extreme undervaluation.”
HL D&I HALLA CORPORATION’s third-quarter revenue is projected to be 457.9 billion won, and operating profit 28.9 billion won—a 4.0% year-over-year decline and a 13.3% increase, respectively. He explained, “In the civil engineering segment, both revenue and profit margins are expected to recover in the second half of the year, driven by full-scale revenue generation from new projects, and the housing segment is also projected to maintain solid margins.” He added, “We do not anticipate any unusual factors affecting SG&A expenses in the third quarter, and as the recently elevated SG&A ratio gradually stabilizes at a lower level, profitability is expected to continue improving steadily.”
Analyst Song noted, “Given that earnings improvement is now evident, it is time to identify new investment catalysts, such as growth potential or shareholder returns,” adding, “While the trend of profit improvement is expected to continue for the time being due to favorable housing margins and stabilized costs, medium- to long-term growth momentum has weakened somewhat when considering the first-half order intake performance and the annual sales plan.”
He further noted, “Since the outlook for the construction industry is not bad and the current stock price is significantly undervalued, future events—both major and minor—could have a positive impact on the stock’s recovery.”
He added, “If the company demonstrates efforts to secure growth drivers—such as pursuing additional in-house projects or increasing non-residential orders—or strengthens shareholder returns through measures like resuming common stock dividends or buying back and canceling preferred shares, a resilient rebound in the stock price is possible given its current state of extreme undervaluation.”