Samsung Biologics reported revenues of 1.32 trillion won in the second quarter of 2026, its highest quarterly figure since the company's founding and a 30% increase on the same period a year earlier.
Operating profit rose 23% year-on-year to 586.4 billion won. The operating margin came in at 44.4%, slipping 2.7 percentage points from the prior-year period as the company absorbed upfront costs related to the commissioning of its fifth manufacturing plant and a new facility in the United States. Net profit grew 33.7% to 434 billion won.
The results were broadly in line with market expectations. Full utilisation across plants one through four, combined with a favourable won-dollar exchange rate, drove the headline growth.
A shadow over the outlook, however, is cast by a union strike that broke out in May. The industrial action caused approximately 150 billion won in lost revenues, though the impact on second-quarter figures was contained. The deferred output is expected to be recognised from the third quarter onwards, making some slowdown in growth over that period all but inevitable.
Should the labour dispute be resolved, retroactive wage payments could generate one-off costs, adding a further layer of uncertainty to second-half earnings.
Despite these headwinds, Samsung Biologics raised its full-year revenue growth guidance from a range of 15–20% to a firm 20%. Management cited the rescheduling of fourth-quarter production, validation batches for the fifth plant, and the ramp-up of revenues from its American facility as factors supporting the revised target.
Daeshin Securities forecasts Samsung Biologics' full-year 2026 revenues at 5.53 trillion won, up 21.4% from 2025, with operating profit of 2.47 trillion won, a 19.6% increase. The brokerage expects third-quarter operating profit to fall 9.0% year-on-year to 576 billion won as the strike's effects feed through, before a recovery in the fourth quarter restores the full-year growth trajectory.
The record quarter underscores how robustly Samsung Biologics' expansion has become embedded in its operating model. Full-year revenues were 3.50 trillion won in 2024, surging 30.3% to 4.56 trillion won in 2025. Should the 2026 forecast of 5.53 trillion won be realised, the company will have added more than one trillion won in annual revenues for two consecutive years. Operating margins, meanwhile, have remained elevated — 37.8% in 2024, 45.4% in 2025, and projected at 44.7% in 2026 — pointing to a sustainably high-margin business.
Order trends deserve attention. The cumulative value of contract manufacturing (CMO) orders stood at $21.7 billion as of the second quarter, only $500 million higher than at end-2025, suggesting the pace of new bookings has slowed. Uncertainty surrounding American tariff policy appears to have caused customers to delay procurement decisions. That said, enquiries have reportedly picked up since tariff measures were confirmed in April, making the resumption of new-order momentum in the second half a critical indicator to watch.
On the longer-term strategic front, Samsung Biologics signed an acquisition agreement with Polypeptide Group on 18th July. Once completed, the deal will extend the company's contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) capabilities into peptides from 2027. This marks a deliberate move beyond the company's existing antibody-centric portfolio into the fast-growing market for peptide-based drugs, including GLP-1 treatments for obesity and diabetes — a significant diversification of its competitive position within the biologics CDMO industry.
From an investor's perspective, the share price warrants scrutiny. At 1,379,000 won, it sits roughly 30% below its 52-week high of 1,965,000 won, and has delivered an absolute return of -23.5% over the past six months. Daeshin Securities maintains a buy recommendation with a target price of 2,000,000 won, implying upside of approximately 45% from current levels. That target is derived using a discounted cash-flow model, and investors should bear in mind that slowing order momentum, strike-related risks, and exchange-rate volatility all add meaningful uncertainty to the earnings outlook.