HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (329180.KS) is posting record earnings, yet its share price has been cut in half. The stock, which once approached 800,000 won, has slid into the 300,000-won range, deepening investor frustration. Adding to the pressure, the company's labor union has announced plans for a partial strike, raising concerns of further downside for the shares.
The shipbuilder closed at 351,500 won on the 16th, down from the previous session, according to data from the Korea Exchange (KRX) on the 18th. The stock failed to join a broader market rebound. Compared with its peak near 800,000 won, the price has more than halved.
With the share slump now compounded by the strike notice, investors are growing uneasy. The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union held a meeting of its central dispute committee and decided to stage a partial strike of seven hours a day from the 21st through the 23rd, with all members taking part.
Management and the union had reached a tentative agreement on the 30th of last month centered on a 120,000-won increase in base pay, an incentive payment equal to 200% of monthly wages and an additional 11 million won. But the deal was rejected in a membership vote, sending wage talks back into deadlock. The union had originally demanded a 149,600-won increase in base pay, a 100% rise in bonuses and distribution of 30% of operating profit.
The difficulty is that in shipbuilding, the longer a strike lasts, the heavier the burden from production disruptions. Because building a vessel involves a series of sequential processes, a halt in even part of the operation can affect the entire production schedule.
Delays in delivery schedules in particular can trigger additional costs and, over the longer term, could weigh on the company's competitiveness in winning new orders.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, meanwhile, has been riding a shipbuilding boom to steep earnings growth. Second-quarter revenue came to 6.3322 trillion won and operating profit to 1.0399 trillion won, up 52.7% and 120.6% respectively from a year earlier. Profitability improved sharply enough for quarterly operating profit to top 1 trillion won.
Analysts attribute the gains to a base effect from the merger with HD Hyundai Mipo, alongside rising margins in non-shipbuilding businesses such as offshore and engine machinery. On the back of that growth, brokerages at one point set target prices for the stock as high as 1 million won, and expectations rose for stronger shareholder returns including larger dividends.
Recently, however, concerns over the earnings outlook have combined with worries about labor-management friction, prompting some brokerages to cut their targets. NH Investment & Securities (005940.KS) lowered its earnings estimates and cut its target price for the company to 700,000 won. "The outcome of labor negotiations over performance-based compensation will be a variable for fourth-quarter profitability," the brokerage said.
SK Securities (001510.KS) also forecast that third-quarter results would fall short of market expectations, lowering its target price to 820,000 won from 970,000 won.