Kyobo Securities forecast on the 2nd that LG Innotek's operating profit for the second quarter of 2026 will comfortably exceed market consensus by more than 30%.
In a research note, Kyobo analyst Choi Bo-young estimated second-quarter 2026 revenue at 4.976 trillion won, up 26% year on year, with operating profit of 202 billion won — a 1,668% increase from the same period a year earlier. That figure is more than 30% above the market consensus estimate of 153.7 billion won.
On a sequential basis, revenue and operating profit are expected to fall 10% and 32% respectively, reflecting the typical seasonal slowdown. However, the analyst notes that the year-on-year comparison flatters the result considerably: operating profit in the equivalent quarter of 2025 was a mere 11 billion won, meaning the low base substantially amplifies the headline growth rate.
By division, the optical solutions unit — which supplies camera modules primarily to Apple — is expected to swing from an operating loss to a profit. Stable smartphone shipment volumes from its key customer, a favourable exchange rate, and higher selling prices for new products are all expected to support the improvement in margins.
The substrate materials division is projected to post the highest profit margin across all business units. Analyst Choi noted that the ramp-up of high-value-added substrates destined for servers and artificial intelligence applications is now fully under way, with quarterly earnings rising in a step-by-step fashion.
Kyobo maintained its "Buy" rating on the stock while sharply raising its target price from 680,000 won to 1.3 million won. The new target applies the upper end of the price-to-earnings band since 2020 — a multiple of 26.5 times — to the firm's projected earnings per share for 2027. At the current share price of 907,000 won, that implies upside of 43%.
The brokerage expects earnings momentum to strengthen further in the second half of the year, as the launch cycle for new models from its North American client coincides with a substrate price increase cycle. For the full year 2026, Kyobo projects revenue of 23.872 trillion won and operating profit of 1.278 trillion won, representing year-on-year growth of 9.0% and 92.2% respectively.