IBK Securities initiated coverage of Taewung (KOSPI: 044490) on September 10th with a "Buy" recommendation and a target price of 45,000 won, implying 24.5% upside from the September 9th closing price of 36,150 won.

The target was derived by applying a price-to-earnings multiple of 28.5 times — the average forward PER forecast for Japan Steel Works (JSW) over 2026–27 — to Taewung's 12-month forward earnings per share of 1,569 won. JSW is widely regarded as the global benchmark for nuclear-grade forgings. That comparison also highlights a valuation gap: JSW currently trades at 2.5 times forward book value, against Taewung's 0.8 times, suggesting considerable room for rerating.

The capacity expansion that changes everything

The central investment case rests on a 30% expansion in production capacity completed in 2025. Taewung upgraded its ring-rolling mill — the industrial press used to shape the large circular flanges that connect offshore wind-turbine components — from a maximum diameter of 9.5 metres to 11.5 metres. That single upgrade is more consequential than it sounds.

Wind turbines have grown rapidly in size. Machines in the 14–15 megawatt range have been standard since around 2020. By the 2030s, 18–20 megawatt turbines are expected to become mainstream, and the flanges they require measure more than 11 metres in diameter. Taewung can now make them; almost no one else outside China can.

Excluding Chinese suppliers, only two companies in the world can produce offshore-wind tower flanges with diameters above 9 metres: Taewung, capable of up to 11.5 metres, and Spain's Euskal Forging, limited to 10.0 metres. For the 11-metre-plus flanges needed by the next generation of super-large turbines, Taewung is the only non-Chinese option. China's Iraeta (up to 20.0 metres) and Wuxi Paike (up to 15.0 metres) are technically capable, but both are focused on the domestic Chinese market, and Europe's Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which takes effect in January 2026 and restricts the share of Chinese-sourced components in European clean-energy supply chains, effectively rules them out as competitors for European projects.

Demand is catching up

The timing is propitious. According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), new offshore wind installations in Europe are forecast to nearly double from 3.0 gigawatts in 2025 to a record 6.25 gigawatts in 2026, before reaching 20.85 gigawatts by 2035 — more than ten times the 2025 level. The surge reflects projects commissioned in 2022, as Europe accelerated its REPowerEU energy-independence drive following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, now moving into the installation phase.

A foothold in nuclear

Taewung is simultaneously building a presence in nuclear power — an area where its forging expertise translates directly. In 2025 it began supplying auxiliary forgings for the first unit of GE Hitachi's BWRX-300, a Generation 3.5 small modular reactor (SMR). In June 2026 it won an order from TerraPower, the Bill Gates-backed nuclear venture, for rotating plugs and other primary-system forgings for the first unit of its Generation 4 sodium-cooled SMR — a step up from auxiliary to core components.

In the field of spent-nuclear-fuel storage and transport casks, Taewung is a long-term supplier to Holtec International of the United States, which holds the top global market share in this segment. In March 2026 it secured an order, through Czech firm Škoda JS, for fixed dry-storage casks at the Temelín and Dukovany nuclear plants in the Czech Republic.

On the gas-turbine side, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has selected Taewung as its development partner for rotor shafts — a critical rotating component — with joint development now at the third of eight stages. Once completed, expected after 2028, the programme is forecast to generate more than 100 billion won in additional annual revenue.

A clear earnings recovery in 2026

IBK Securities forecasts a sharp earnings rebound for Taewung in 2026, with revenue of 394.6 billion won (up 12.8% year on year), operating profit of 21.5 billion won (up 328.9%), and an operating margin of 5.4%. The 2025 trough — operating profit of just 5.0 billion won on a margin of 1.4% — was caused by disruption to wind-turbine production during the ring-rolling mill upgrade, a temporary setback that depressed results relative to the 22.8 billion won earned in 2024. Recovery is expected to accelerate thereafter: the brokerage projects operating profit of 35.7 billion won in 2027 and 45.6 billion won in 2028.

Risks to watch

Several risks deserve acknowledgement. A sharp appreciation of the won in the third quarter of 2026 could compress near-term revenue and margins. The spread between product prices and input costs has been narrowing — iron-ore prices have fallen since 2022, reducing selling prices, while energy costs have remained elevated — and this dynamic may slow the pace of margin recovery. Revenue from SMR and primary nuclear components is not expected to materialise in meaningful volume until after 2030, limiting the nuclear segment's near-term contribution to earnings. Finally, foreign investors hold just 4.1% of Taewung's shares, a low figure that constrains liquidity and makes the stock more susceptible to thin trading conditions.

Two decades of reinvention

Taewung's trajectory over the past 20 years is one of serial adaptation. It pivoted from shipbuilding and plant equipment to onshore wind in the mid-2000s, then shifted to offshore wind after Chinese competitors flooded the onshore market around 2015, and has now planted its flag in nuclear. Over the same period, many domestic and international forging companies went bankrupt or underwent restructuring.

IBK Securities draws an explicit parallel with the mid-2000s cycle, when Taewung's initial ring-rolling mill upgrade coincided with the first offshore-wind boom to produce a powerful earnings and valuation re-rating: the stock reached a peak PER of 40 times and a PBR above 5 times. At a current PBR of 0.8 times, the distance to travel — if history rhymes — is considerable.