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JONBUR Research · Initiation

HLB Pharmaceutical · 047920 · Biotech & Pharma

HLB Pharmaceutical: Thin Profits, a Sharp One-Month Rally and a Recent Rights Offering

Why this report

Start of coverage: written when a reader opened this company and there was no report yet.

HLB Pharmaceutical's shares closed at ₩10,590 on 2026-10-16, up 60.5% over one month but down 23.7% over one year, with a market value of ₩461.3B. Revenue has grown strongly, but profits remain close to zero and recent filings show a completed rights offering.

Written Oct 18, 2026 · Data as of Oct 16, 2026 · 0 views

This is not financial advice. The report does not recommend buying or selling anything.

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Thesis

The data supports a picture of a company that has grown sales and moved out of losses, but has not yet turned that growth into meaningful profit. Revenue rose from ₩62.9B in 2021 to ₩205.6B in 2025, and trailing twelve-month revenue to H1 2026 is ₩251.9B. Operating margin is only 0.7% and ROE is 2.2%, so earnings are very small against the size of the business.

The share price has moved sharply: it is 60.5% higher over one month and 13.0% higher over three months, yet 23.7% lower over one year and well below the 52-week high of ₩22,250 (the low was ₩6,000). The data does not explain the recent rally, and no news headlines are available. The valuation model could not produce an estimate, so there is no model reference point.

Business overview

HLB Pharmaceutical is a Biotech & Pharma company listed on KOSDAQ since 2015-12-21, founded in 1998, with 43,561,688 listed shares and a market capitalization of ₩461.3B. CEO is listed as 박재형. Revenue has risen in every year shown: ₩62.9B in 2021, ₩107.5B in 2022, ₩136.0B in 2023, ₩137.1B in 2024 and ₩205.6B in 2025 (up 50.0%). The data does not describe products or segments.

Financial analysis

These figures come from filed financial statements. Operating income was ₩486M in 2021, then losses of ₩6.4B in 2022 and ₩19.5B in 2023, before small profits of ₩1.5B in 2024 and ₩1.1B in 2025. Net income was ₩2.0B in 2024 and ₩4.6B in 2025, after losses in 2021 to 2023. Operating margin was 0.5% in 2025 and 0.7% on a trailing basis; net margin is 1.1%. Trailing operating income is ₩1.9B and net income ₩2.8B.

On the balance sheet, liabilities to equity is 36.2%, cash is ₩4.5B and borrowings are ₩15.0B, so borrowings exceed cash. Trailing free cash flow is negative at -₩4.3B, meaning the business is still consuming cash after investment.

Valuation

At the current price the P/E is 167.3, P/B 3.5 and P/S 1.8. EV/EBITDA is not available and the dividend yield is 0.0%. The high P/E reflects very small earnings. Against its own history, year-end P/E was 519.8 in 2024 and 152.8 in 2025, and P/B was 9.0 and 5.6, so the current P/B of 3.5 is below recent year-end levels.

Peers show P/E of 14.3 to 84.4 (Samsung Biologics 30.3, Celltrion 28.6, Alteogen 84.4, Yuhan 25.0, SK biopharmaceuticals 14.3) and P/B of 2.5 to 30.4. HLB Pharmaceutical's P/E is well above all of them, while its P/B sits within the peer range. The valuation model produced no estimate (fair_value_model is null), so there is no model estimate per share to compare with the ₩10,590 price.

Catalysts

  • An investor relations event was filed on 2026-10-12, which may give more information on plans.
  • A new facility investment filing on 2026-10-01 points to capital spending that could affect future capacity and cash needs.
  • The rights offering completed in September 2026, with results reports filed on 2026-09-17 and 2026-09-18, adds new capital to the company.
  • Two 5%+ holding reports (2026-09-09 and 2026-09-28) and an insider shareholding report show changes in large holders' positions.
  • Over the last 20 days retail investors were net buyers of ₩4.6B while foreigners and institutions were net sellers of ₩2.1B and ₩2.5B.

Risks

  • Profitability is very thin, with a 0.7% operating margin, so small cost or sales changes could push results back into loss.
  • Trailing free cash flow is negative at -₩4.3B and borrowings of ₩15.0B exceed cash of ₩4.5B.
  • The P/E of 167.3 is far above peers, leaving the valuation dependent on earnings rising considerably.
  • The share price is volatile, up 60.5% in a month but down 23.7% over a year, with no news in the data to explain the move.
  • The rights offering and new facility investment point to continued funding needs and possible share dilution.

Closing view

The filings show a company with fast-growing revenue and a recovery from losses, but earnings, returns and cash flow remain weak relative to its market value. The valuation is stretched on earnings and more moderate on book value, and no model estimate is available. The recent rally, the rights offering and negative free cash flow all matter, and the data does not show whether profitability will improve enough to support the current price.

Model estimate of fair value

The valuation model has no estimate for this company yet (not enough data, or no positive value with the base case).

Filings and data used

Report history

  1. Oct 18, 2026InitiationStart of coverage (reader request)HLB Pharmaceutical: Thin Profits, a Sharp One-Month Rally and a Recent Rights Offering

Built only from jonbur's own data: prices and investor flows, filed financial statements and filings, and news headlines. Disclosed (filed) data is labelled as such. Written by AI and may contain mistakes.

This is not financial advice. The report does not recommend buying or selling anything.

Source: KRX statistical information