Hana Securities raised its target price for LG Electronics (066570.KS) to 260,000 won from 230,000 won. The upgrade reflects second-quarter earnings that are expected to far exceed market forecasts on the back of U.S. tariff refunds, along with new businesses set to gain momentum in the second half.
Kim Min-kyung, an analyst at Hana Securities, said in a report Thursday that LG Electronics' second-quarter operating profit on a non-consolidated basis is projected to reach 1.2489 trillion won, a 100% increase from a year earlier, significantly surpassing market forecasts.
"The biggest factor will be the effect of U.S. tariff refunds," Kim said. "Even excluding one-off factors, it is positive that profitability is being defended through price increases and cost efficiency in an environment where raw material and logistics cost burdens persist."
Kim analyzed that expectations for new businesses such as robotics will have a positive impact on the stock price. "The materialization of new businesses such as data center cooling systems and robotics will serve as stock price momentum in the second half," she said. "For cooling systems, testing by North American hyperscaler customers (companies operating large-scale AI data centers) has entered its final stage, and after final testing, contributions to earnings will begin within six to nine months."
She added, "The robotics business is also building a data factory for humanoid robot learning. Through this, the company is expected to accumulate motion data needed to advance its robot foundation model (RFM)." She said, "From a mid- to long-term perspective, this will lead to the potential for industrial expansion across the household and industrial robot markets."
