South Korea's cosmetics exports reached an all-time high last year, with leading beauty companies Amorepacific and APR reporting record earnings driven by overseas sales growth. Analysts are raising price targets amid bullish outlooks for both stocks.
Amorepacific disclosed on the 6th that its consolidated operating profit for last year reached 335.8 billion won, up 52.3% from 220.5 billion won the previous year. Revenue for the same period rose 9.5% to 4.2528 trillion won. Overseas operating profit surged 101.44% year-on-year to 209.9 billion won. The company's beauty brands Laneige and Aestura saw explosive popularity in the Americas last year. Shares of Amorepacific closed at 165,100 won on the 9th, up 20.25% from the previous session.
Securities firms uniformly raised their target prices for Amorepacific. Samsung Securities analysts Lee Ga-young and Yoo Hye-rim noted, "Aestura's accelerating U.S. demand and Cosrx's successful European expansion through collaboration with Silicone2 stood out in these results, which will become key growth drivers in 2026." They raised their target price to 160,000 won while maintaining a "buy" rating.
Mirae Asset Securities analyst Bae Song-yi said, "Amorepacific's fourth-quarter results exceeded expectations excluding one-time personnel costs of 53.6 billion won." She added, "Strong performance from mid-tier brands Cosrx and Aestura is required to achieve targets, and Cosrx proved its potential by rebounding at the optimal moment." She raised the target price to 180,000 won.
APR, another beauty company, is also showing remarkable growth. APR recorded consolidated revenue of 1.5273 trillion won last year, surpassing the 1 trillion won mark for the first time in its 10-year history. Operating profit nearly tripled from 122.7 billion won to 365.4 billion won during the same period. APR's overseas sales jumped 207% year-on-year to 1.2258 trillion won. By country, the United States accounted for 37% of total sales last year, representing the largest share. Securities firms also raised target prices for APR: NH Investment Securities at 350,000 won, LS Securities at 350,000 won, Shinhan Investment Corp at 350,000 won, and Samsung Securities at 370,000 won. APR shares closed at 266,000 won on the day, up 3.70%.
The U.S. presence is prominent in the overseas sales mix of K-beauty companies including Amorepacific and APR—a testament to Americans' exceptional love for K-beauty. Beauty influencer Taylor Bosman Teague, who has 500,000 TikTok followers, said last year, "I bulk-purchased Korean toners and moisturizers. These are Korean skincare products I can never give up." The New York Times cited excellent value for money and low-irritation formulations as factors driving Korean cosmetics' popularity in the United States.