HYBE, the entertainment company that manages the popular K-pop group BTS, has been thriving even in the absence of the entire group. On April 17, HYBE’s stock closed at 260,000 KRW (197.11 USD) per share, which is a 0.39% increase from the previous trading day and marked a 10-day consecutive upward trend. It also rose to a high of 270,000 KRW (204.68 USD) per share, a 4.25% increase from the previous trading day, reaching the price levels before BTS announced the suspension of group activities on June 14, 2022. While entertainment stocks have been generally on the rise recently, HYBE’s rise is unrivaled.
The solo activities of BTS member Jimin have played a significant role in the rise of HYBE’s stock price. Jimin debuted at #1 on the US Billboard’s main single chart ‘Hot 100’ with his first mini-album ‘FACE‘ and the title song “Like Crazy,” and entered 2nd place on the main album chart ‘Billboard 200’, making history for K-pop. HYBE’s stock price rose 41.3% in the 10 trading days following Jimin’s Billboard ‘Hot 100’ ranking.
In the multi-label system, various artists such as TXT, NewJeans, and Seventeen also had successful promotions. In the first quarter, HYBE posted more than 8.9 million album sales based on data from the Circle chart, reaching the highest level ever even without BTS.
The stock market predicted that HYBE’s sales and operating profit in the first quarter of this year would exceed market expectations, with estimated figures of about 470 billion KRW (356.3 million USD) and about 50 billion KRW (37.9 million USD), respectively. Hanwha Investment & Securities researcher Park Soo Young explained HYBE’s first-quarter performance as “the highest performance ever with no room to feel BTS’s hiatus.”
HYBE’s future prospects are promising, with major schedules lined up for the second quarter. These include BTS Suga’s solo album and world tour, Seventeen’s new album and Japan Dome fan meeting, TXT world tour, LE SSERAFIM, and ENHYPEN‘s comeback. Additionally, the debut of new groups is expected, including the 6-member boy group Boy Next Door under KOZ Entertainment, an affiliated label led by Zico, and a new boy group under Pledis Entertainment, which aims to succeed Seventeen. Furthermore, HYBE’s US girl group debut project is expected to materialize in the second quarter.
The growth of Weverse, HYBE’s fandom platform, is also noteworthy. Kakao and HYBE, former rivals in the bid for the acquisition of SM Entertainment, have now reached an agreement to collaborate on Weverse. Singers from SM Entertainment have also announced plans to enter Weverse in the second half of the year. Along with this, American and Japanese artists are expected to join Weverse in the second quarter.
Securities firms have also raised their target prices for HYBE in line with the positive outlook. Recently, KB Securities (target price: 295,000 KRW), Hyundai Motor Securities (target price: 300,000 KRW), Hana Securities (target price: 290,000 KRW), Hanwha Investment & Securities (target price: 330,000 KRW), NH Investment & Securities (target price: 310,000 KRW), and others have all raised their target prices for HYBE.
