iM Securities on Wednesday forecast that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will report second-quarter 2026 revenue of 6.11 trillion won and operating profit of 928.8 billion won, representing year-on-year increases of 47.4% and 97.0% respectively.
The shipbuilding division is expected to sustain an operating margin in the mid-teens, acting as the primary engine of growth. The offshore division is projected to post a margin of 8.2%, a step down from the 18.9% recorded in the previous quarter. At the group level, the overall operating margin is forecast at 15.2%, the highest among South Korean shipbuilders.
iM Securities maintained its "Buy" rating and 12-month price target of 860,000 won, reaffirming HD Hyundai Heavy Industries as its top pick in the shipbuilding sector. Based on the closing price of 507,000 won on Tuesday, the implied upside is 69.6%.
Order intake remains robust. Since the start of the year, the company has accumulated $11.25 billion in merchant vessel orders, equivalent to roughly 98% of its full-year merchant shipping target of $11.47 billion. Including offshore and specialist vessel contracts, total orders stand at $13.8 billion, or 68% of the company's overall annual target of $20.42 billion.
Global shipbuilding demand is also accelerating. Cumulative new vessel orders worldwide reached 42.95 million compensated gross tonnes (CGT) through June 2026, a 65.8% increase on the same period a year earlier and the highest level recorded since 2021.
The brokerage also highlighted an emerging growth avenue in engines for artificial-intelligence data centres. In April, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries secured a contract to supply a 660-megawatt land-based engine for an AI data centre. iM Securities argued that the company's proprietary HIMSEN engine brand gives it a distinct competitive advantage in commercialising this technology independently, and described an expansion of its four-stroke engine capacity as a matter of when, not if.
The analyst noted two near-term risks to watch. Costs associated with a fire aboard the submarine Hongbeom-do — which was under construction when the incident occurred in April — could weigh on the shipbuilding division's second-quarter results if recognised in that period. Separately, a potential rise in steel plate prices following second-half contract negotiations is not expected to affect earnings until the third quarter at the earliest, and is therefore considered immaterial to the second-quarter outlook.
For the full year 2026, iM Securities projects revenue of 24.05 trillion won and operating profit of 3.62 trillion won, representing increases of 36.8% and 77.5% respectively compared with 2025.