"Another Uproar for Families with Daughters" Box Office Sensation...Will the Tenfold Stock Price Legend Return?[Click e-Stock]

SAMG Entertainment's New "Hatchuping" Film Proves a Hit
430,000 Viewers in Just Five Days Since Release
Second-Quarter Performance Slows...Merchandise and Collaboration Expansion May Fuel Turnaround

Driven by the box office success of the new animated film, there is analysis suggesting that the scale of SAMG Entertainment’s intellectual property (IP) business and its corporate value are set to expand.

On August 11, Shinhan Investment & Securities researcher Aram Kim commented, “Rather than short-term quarterly earnings, we should focus on the expansion of the IP business scale after the movie’s release.” Kim did not provide an investment opinion or a target price.

Director Suhoon Kim is giving a greeting at the movie "Love's Hachu Ping: The Legend of the Whale Jewel" screening and press conference held on the 21st at CGV Yongsan I-Park Mall in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

The New Movie’s Popularity Proven... Winning Support from the 10s–30s Age Group

The film Love’s Hachuping: Legend of the Whale Jewel, released on August 5, surpassed 430,000 cumulative viewers in just five days after its premiere and continues to maintain high audience ratings. According to researcher Kim, “Previously, SAMG Entertainment’s share price rose nearly tenfold, thanks to the strong performance of Love’s Hachuping and subsequent rapid growth driven by IP business expansion. If the new movie succeeds in capturing the interest of viewers from their teens to their thirties, it could serve as a trigger for a shift in the share price momentum.”

Music director Taeho Kim (left) and director Suhoon Kim are posing at the premiere and press conference for the film "Love's Hachuping: Legend of the Whale Jewel," held on the 21st at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Performance in the second quarter of this year is projected to be somewhat subdued. SAMG Entertainment’s Q2 revenue is forecast at 35.9 billion won (an increase of 1% year-on-year), and operating profit is expected at 4.3 billion won (a decrease of 20%), falling short of market expectations. Despite the boost from the Children’s Day peak season, product sales declined due to a reduction in operations at the company’s main distribution channel, Homeplus, as well as a base effect from prior collaborations last year. Preemptive investments in personnel and R&D for IP business expansion also led to an increase in selling and administrative expenses ratios.

The outlook for the second half of the year is positive. Researcher Kim noted, “Operating profit for the full year is projected to reach 23.6 billion won, an increase of 4.5% compared to the previous year. More important than quarterly results is the movie’s buzz factor, and estimates for the second half could be revised upward depending on the success of IP business activities such as merchandise sales and brand collaborations following the film’s release.”

The researcher also assessed that the current share price has strong appeal. Kim stated, “Expected price-to-earnings ratios (PER) for this year and next are around 15x and 10x, respectively, putting the stock in a range with no discount burden. The fact that Japan’s global character company Sanrio’s share price is up 73% from its low is also favorable for investor sentiment.”

Kim continued, “While the short-term driver for the stock is the movie’s success, various efforts to expand the target age group are also meaningful. We maintain a positive medium- to long-term outlook on SAMG Entertainment as a leading domestic IP-related stock.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.