LG Display Co. ADR Stock price
Compare with Peer Group
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = $2.66b | Revenue (TTM) = $18.95b
Market Cap = $2.66b | Estimated Revenue = $18.88b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = $11.65b | Revenue (TTM) = $18.95b
Enterprise Value = $11.65b | Forward Revenue = $18.88b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF) | ex SBC
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF compares a company’s enterprise value with its free cash flow. The metric therefore shows the multiple of current free cash flow at which a company is valued. EV/FCF ex SBC additionally accounts for stock-based compensation (SBC). While SBC does not represent a direct cash outflow, issuing shares as compensation can dilute existing shareholders. Therefore, SBC is deducted from free cash flow in this adjusted version.
🧮 How is it calculated?
EV/FCF ex SBC = Enterprise Value ÷ (Free Cash Flow (TTM) − SBC)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV/FCF provides a valuation based on free cash flow and therefore complements earnings-based valuation metrics such as the P/E ratio. The ex SBC version additionally accounts for the economic impact of stock-based compensation and provides a more conservative view from a shareholder perspective.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF means that enterprise value is low relative to current free cash flow. The reasons should always be considered in the context of the company and its industry.
- A high EV/FCF means that enterprise value is high relative to current free cash flow. This can, for example, reflect high growth expectations or temporarily weak cash generation.
- When SBC is positive and adjusted free cash flow remains positive, EV/FCF ex SBC is generally higher than the standard EV/FCF.
- The metric is particularly useful for companies with relatively stable and predictable cash flows.
- If free cash flow is negative or very low, EV/FCF has limited usefulness and should not be interpreted like a standard valuation multiple.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF) | ex SBC
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow shows how much cash remains after a company has covered its operating and capital expenditures. FCF ex SBC additionally deducts stock-based compensation (SBC) to adjust the cash flow for the effect of non-cash SBC.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free Cash Flow ex SBC = Operating Cash Flow − SBC − Capital Expenditures (CAPEX)
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s actual financial strength – independent of reported accounting earnings. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction. FCF ex SBC also deducts stock-based compensation and shows how much cash generation remains after SBC.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow indicates that a company has strong financial strength – independent of reported earnings.
- It is often a solid basis for sustainable dividends and share buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be a warning sign, even if reported earnings remain stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net Margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free Cash Flow Margin | ex SBC
📈 What is it?
The Free Cash Flow Margin shows how much free cash flow a company generates relative to its revenue. In simplified terms, free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. The Free Cash Flow Margin ex SBC additionally accounts for stock-based compensation (SBC). While SBC does not represent a direct cash outflow, issuing shares as compensation can dilute existing shareholders. Therefore, SBC is deducted from free cash flow in this adjusted metric.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free Cash Flow Margin ex SBC = (Free Cash Flow − SBC) ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
The Free Cash Flow Margin shows how efficiently a company converts its revenue into free cash flow. Strong free cash flow can provide financial flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, debt repayment, or further investments. The ex SBC version additionally accounts for the economic impact of stock-based compensation and therefore provides a more conservative view of cash generation from a shareholder perspective.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high Free Cash Flow Margin shows that a company converts a high proportion of its revenue into free cash flow.
- This can provide greater financial flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, debt repayment, or investments.
- The Free Cash Flow Margin ex SBC additionally accounts for potential shareholder dilution from stock-based compensation.
- The long-term trend is particularly important. Declining margins can, for example, result from higher investments, changes in working capital, or weaker operating performance.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Revenue per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
- Especially helpful when comparing tech companies to industrial or service sectors.
LG Display Co. ADR Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
23 Analysts have issued a LG Display Co. ADR forecast:
Analyst Opinions
23 Analysts have issued a LG Display Co. ADR forecast:
LG Display Co. ADR Events
Past Events
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OCT
21
Q3 2026 Earnings Call
24 days ago
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JUL
21
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
4 months ago
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APR
22
Q1 2026 Earnings Call
7 months ago
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JAN
27
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
10 months ago
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OCT
30
Q3 2025 Earnings Call
about one year ago
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StocksGuide Free
LG Display Co. ADR — Q3 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
[Interpreted] Good morning and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the LG Display earnings results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on LG Display's Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 earnings results.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon. This is Dong Joo Kim, Vice President, in charge of Finance and Risk Management at LG Display. Thank you for joining our third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining us today are CFO, Sung-Hyun Kim; Vice President, Seung-Hyun Cho in charge of Business Control and Management; Vice President, Jong Duck Kim in charge of Large Display Planning and Management; Yu-Shin Ahn, in charge of Medium Display Planning and Management; Vice President, Seung-Ryong Baek in charge of Small Display Planning and Management; Vice President, Ki Hwan Son, Head of Auto Marketing and Product Planning; and Lee Ki-Young, in charge of Business Intelligence.
Today's conference call will be conducted in both Korean and English. For more details on the company's performance, please refer to our disclosure or the Investor Relations section in the company's website. Please refer to the disclaimer before we begin the presentation.
Please be informed that the financial figures presented in today's earnings release are consolidated figures prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. These figures have not yet been audited by an external auditor and are provided for the convenience of our investors.
I will now report on the company's business performance in Q3 2026. Revenue in Q3 was KRW 6.277 trillion. In this somewhat unfavorable environment, especially with the strong Korean won, the company was able to grow shipments, thanks to the start of seasonality for major OLED products like large size and mobile. Revenue grew 12% Q-o-Q, fell 10% Y-o-Y, mostly due to the shipment decrease of midsized LCD products as a result of our portfolio realignment centered on profitability.
Operating profit was KRW 250.6 billion, slightly improving Q-o-Q and falling 42% Y-o-Y. As I just explained, shipment of large-sized and mobile OLED products grew, but the won to dollar exchange rate fell by 6%, and the chipflation constrained our effort to manage ASP. Prices also rose for some sets, dampening demand for some of our focused high-end products. Operating profit margin was 4% and EBITDA 19%. Net income stood at KRW 755.6 billion, thanks to the vast improvement in FX translation gain following the won's appreciation near the quarter end.
Next is area shipment and ASP trends. Third quarter area shipment grew 4% from the previous quarter to 3.7 million square meters as shipment of large-sized OLED products grew despite prolonged uncertainties in the external environment. Price per square meter rose 16% Q-o-Q to $1,250, thanks to growth in shipment of mobile OLED products despite the unfavorable external environment, including the chipflation.
Next, I will discuss the revenue breakdown by product category. With the start of seasonality, shipment of mobile products grew, increasing its share out of revenue to 42%, up by 10 percentage points Q-o-Q, which was also the biggest change among all product categories. In contrast, shipment of IT fell with its share declining to 29%, down by 7 percentage points. TV and auto's share remain largely unchanged. Even as external uncertainties and volatility continue, the company is carrying on our work to upgrade our business structure centered around OLED, which is gradually increasing OLED share out of total revenue. As of Q3, OLED share stood at the highest quarterly level of 67%, up 10 percentage points Q-o-Q and 2 percentage points Y-o-Y.
Next is financial position and key metrics. Cash and cash equivalents in Q3 was KRW 1.597 trillion (sic) [ KRW 1.511 trillion ] slightly up Q-o-Q. The debt-to-equity ratio stood at 254% and the net debt-to-equity ratio at 141%, both improved from the previous quarter.
Next is guidance for Q4. Area shipment is expected to grow around 10% in Q4. Continuing from the previous quarter, seasonality will keep driving shipment, but there is still some impact from the advanced purchase that was made in the first half as well as uncertainties in set demand due to the chipflation, which merits continued close monitoring over the market. As for the ASP, with softer consumer demand and external uncertainties such as inflation and rising prices of raw materials, any increment is not likely to be significant. Price per square meter in Q4 is expected to rise by low single percentage compared to the previous quarter. I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Sung-Hyun Kim.
[Interpreted] Good morning and afternoon. This is the CFO, Sung-Hyun Kim. Thank you for joining us at this conference call. Allow me to briefly walk you through our Q3 highlights. Even while external uncertainties continued such as the exchange rate, component price fluctuations and slowing demand for IT products, including high end, the company was able to improve our performance over the previous quarter, thanks to improved business competitiveness based on OLED and higher operational efficiency. The chipflation is driving up the price of sets across industry, and demand is particularly slowing for high-end products, which are the company's strengths.
In this environment, what we see as a way to ensure profitability is to keep innovating cost to offset the chipflation and seamlessly develop and upgrade technologies that set us apart and that can help us maintain our competitive edge. As part of this strategy, we keep upgrading the productivity and efficiency of our existing infrastructure while developing leading-edge technologies that will keep a distance from the pack and become our future growth engines.
As was reported by the media recently, the company remains focused on technological innovation, evidenced by the successful development of the next-generation OLED patterning technology or FLiPP. FLiPP is the combination of the evolution of our OLED technology and mass production experience. We see it as the next-gen technology that will broaden OLED's applicability and technological leadership. The company remains committed to heightening our technological competitiveness based on our proprietary technology and accumulated know-how to translate them into real business performance.
We will keep working to equip ourselves with differentiated technological competitiveness and innovate the cost structure to enhance our readiness against external changes and ensure stable profit generation.
Let me now briefly outline our strategy for each business area. In large panel, the company continues to lead the premium market based on our proprietary OLED technology and product competitiveness. We will keep strengthening our premium TV OLED products while broadening the lineup of price-competitive new products to accommodate diverse customers' needs. Meanwhile, in monitor OLED, we will boost our gaming OLED product lineup with our unique technology and widen our presence in the market.
In small and medium displays, we will -- we plan to keep up our competitiveness in high-end products leveraging our differentiated technological leadership and reliable development and production capability.
In mobile, we will solidify our market position with our tech competitiveness and reliable supply execution. And in IT, we will focus on high value-add products while improving cost competitiveness to achieve higher profitability. In Auto, the environment is challenging with broadly slowing growth in the auto market, moderating transition to EV and tougher competition among panel suppliers. But we will further elevate our business competitiveness by solidifying our position in the premium market with the strategy of improving profitability based on cost innovation.
Last is on the company's investment strategy. The company maintains the strategy of cautiously investing in future technology based on visibility into market demand and close consultation with customers. At the same time, we're also methodically building up our plans for future growth, future growth engines and mass production competitiveness by developing new technologies like FLiPP that maximizes the strength of OLED.
We will keep improving our financial structure while upgrading our leading technology that can help innovate customer value and the display industry. Meanwhile, we will make investment decisions at the right time upon careful review of the market and investment environment to lose no time in responding to customers and consumers' needs and speedily expand our business performance. CapEx spend this year is expected at around low KRW 2 trIllion. Investment in new OLED technology that we already communicated with the market, will move ahead as planned with matched production to begin at the right time. Thank you very much.
[Interpreted] This concludes our presentation of business highlights for Q3 2026. We will now take your questions. Operator, please commence the Q&A session.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Kwon Min-kyu from Kiwoom Securities.
2. Question Answer
[Interpreted] I have a couple of them with regards to the company's new technology. There have been quite a lot of media reports about LG Display's FLiPP technology, which the company also seems to be emphasizing in terms of the technological advantages. So my question is with regards to the overview of the FLiPP technology. What would be the investment timing and scale as well as the mass production schedule utilizing FLiPP as well as the product applicability and potential customers?
And also given the fact that some of the peers have already gone into mass production based on the 8.6 Gen technology, then what would be FLiPP's advantages over the 8.6 Gen technology? And also, what would be the company's competition strategy to counter the 8.6 Gen? And also, if FLiPP investment were to move fully ahead, then what changes can we expect in terms of the company's medium-term business strategy? And in particular, what direction does the company plan to take with the IT LCD?
[Interpreted] This is Yu-Shin Ahn, in charge of Medium Display Planning and Management. Now first about the new technology FLiPP. FLiPP is on RGB OLED patterning method, that allows us to use the full sheet Gen 8 mother glass without having to use FMM. It is the next-gen OLED technology, which is the combination of the evolution in our OLED technology and know-how so far. And it also has far stronger advantages over existing approach in terms of product specifications, production process and cost.
And in terms of product specifications and performance first, it improves the aperture ratio, which improves brightness, lifespan and power consumption. It allows individual patterning of RGB, optimizing pixels for each device, maximizing OLED device efficiency and improving color representation and viewing angle.
And in terms of production, it does not require repeated iteration of alignment and attachment between the mother glass and the FMM. And since it does not use FMM, it goes through the process continuously for each step, which reduces the process time and improve efficiency.
In terms of cost, we can use the full-sheet Gen 8 mother glass, which gives us higher cutting efficiency and productivity, with higher deposition efficiency as well, it offers better material costs.
In terms of our plans for investment and production of FLiPP, for example, the size or the timing of such investment in production, have not been finalized yet. We are preparing for our future OLED business with FLiPP, solidifying our OLED technology leadership and opening up new markets with differentiated customer value.
And a few words about the latter part of your question, which was on the IT LCD. Now IT LCD business is an area where cost is crucial due to slowing demand and growing competition. We plan to upgrade our product portfolio by focusing on the high-end product needs of our major customers. Not only that, we will recover our business competitiveness here by maximizing our opportunities while keeping an eye on profitability. We will accelerate the work to improve cost and business structure and improve fab efficiency in step with the market.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Kangho Park from Daishin Securities.
[Interpreted] I also have a couple of questions with regards to the company's important business, which is OLED. Now my first question is the shipment of large OLED panels seems to be growing fast led by OLED monitors. And I would like to ask for the company's comments on the company's projection for your shipment for this year and next as well as profitability.
And the second question is, what is the company's mid- to long-term business and fab operation strategy for large OLED, including the timing of reutilization of part of the capacity in Paju?
This is Vice President, Jong Duck Kim, in charge of Large Display Planning and Management, responding to the questions. Now first, about the Large OLED business. The panel shipment for large OLED this year is projected at the high [ 7 million ] range, higher by around 20% Y-o-Y. Of them, OLED monitor will be about 20%. We plan to maintain meaningful growth into next year as well based on the increase in shipment for OLED monitors.
And as for profitability, there will be some volatility with downturn in the TV downstream market, chipflation and rising cost in logistics, among others. But we will try to secure a stable revenue structure by increasing panel shipment and continuing our cost-cutting initiatives.
And about your second question, our utilization of existing capacity continues to go up following the growth in demand for large OLED panel. We will restart part of the capacity flexibly in proportion to the incremental demand, while considering the demand intensity in the TV and monitor downstream market and the optimum production ratio. For a large business, we plan to go beyond the TV market where we are currently strong. We will broaden our monitor market with the WOLED technology and keep growing our business by maximizing our use of existing infrastructure and resources. We will secure stable volume based on win-win partnership with our customers and further elevate our leadership in Large OLED by improving cost and tech competitiveness.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by [ Jong-hyeon Yun ] from UBS.
[Interpreted] I have two questions on the mobile OLED and IT OLED. Now the first question is about the mobile, the customers' unveiling of the foldable smartphone has escalated expectations in the market and consumers. But for the bar-type phone where the form factor hasn't changed, initial market reaction appears to be subdued. What is the trend in the panel shipment and actual sales that the company is currently seeing?
And the second question is, now the launch of foldable also triggered concerns for potential erosion of demand for tablet products. Does the company see foldable smartphones affecting demand for tablets as well?
[Interpreted] This is Vice President, Seung-Ryong Baek, in charge of Small Display Planning and Management. And yes, the foldable is expected to grow to see growing demand, because it provides differentiated value to consumers with a new form factor and addresses the need for larger screens with increasing use of AI. Now they started the event early -- early reservation for the product on October 16, and it seems as if the expectations continue to grow. So, at this time, it appears as if the foldable market or the foldable segment is likely to go -- likely to grow faster than expected.
Again, it seems as if the foldable market is set to grow. But also at the same time, the bar-type is likely to remain the mainstream product as it continues to innovate itself with new technologies. So for the company, we will be making the investment according to our plan. And we will also keep up with the trends and the demands from the market as well as the consumers and also keep in line with the next-generation evolution so that we can maintain our leadership in the market.
And now with the launch of the foldable products, yes, perhaps there may be some concerns about the -- its impact on the demand for the tablet at the same time. But then we do believe that the demand for these different types of products is different. Also, the target customers are different. So the projection is that given the fact that the target customers and the purpose of each product segment are different, the impact is going to be limited.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Jung Hoon Chang from Samsung Securities.
[Interpreted] I also have two questions. The first is that it's been said that the chipflation has intensified customers' pressure on the panel price. So the question is then how much, if any, has it been affecting the company's profitability?
And the second question is, despite the fact that the share of revenue by the mobile products has gone up, at the same time, the mobile business appears to have more downside risk than upside due to stronger competition despite the concentration in the strategic customers. So my question is what is the company's business strategy or the response strategy against this?
[Interpreted] Now this is Seung-Ryong Baek again for the -- in charge of the Small Display Planning and Management. Now in terms of the pressure in the downstream industry as well as the volatility, this is something that is occurring generally across the market. And yes, it is also affecting the company as well. Now our goal is for the medium to longer term to continue to increase volume. But also at the same time, given these various constraints, it is also likely that our profitability improvement is going to be limited compared to the increase in the volume.
Now based on the technology that we have continued to build up in the smartphone panel business, we will continue to strengthen our position in the market as well as the technological leadership. And also based on the -- based on our cost innovation and also upgrade in the product and operation, we will continue to maintain stable performance while at the same time, driving growth in both the revenue and volume so that we can continue to achieve sustainable performance.
Now in order to respond to the changes in the market and the market demand, we will continue to maximize the use of existing production infrastructure and also carefully consider preemptive investment in new technologies. And by doing so, we will focus on timely development of new technologies to help competitiveness of new models launched by our customers and heighten the entry barrier to the smartphone panel business.
Thank you. We will take the last question.
[Interpreted] The last question will be presented by Won Suk Chung from iM Securities.
[Interpreted] Now my question is on the auto business. Now the auto business for the company continues to maintain at around 10% share out of the total revenue. But then also, we see that for the OEMs, then the demand is really slow to recover and also competition in the display business continues to get tougher. Now we understand that the auto business is relatively stable compared to others because it is based on the orders. Then the question is, what is the company's current status in terms of the auto business and the profitability? And there was also an update once about the order backlog. So can the company provide the update again in terms of the order backlog today? And what is the expectations of the revenue growth in the future?
[Interpreted] Thank you. This is Vice President, Ki Hwan Son, Head of Auto Marketing and the Product Planning responding to the question. Now it is true that the market environment around auto continues to be challenging, with demand and competition, both remaining challenging, and the global auto market has also been showing gradual recovery since COVID, but auto sales growth is expected to be negative this year due to the Middle East war and inflation. Not only that, but combined with other factors like tariff uncertainties in the trading environment, semiconductor supply issues and slower consumer sentiment, real recovery in the auto market is likely to be postponed until next year.
Despite such constraints, the company is maintaining its stable business operations with focus on our customers. The LTPS LCD business has kept up its consistent performance based on solid sales by major strategic partners in North America, Korea, Japan and others. And OLED has struggled a little due to the slower sales of European OEMs' EV and delay in mass production of some new models. But we do expect stability to settle as the existing projects move into mass production.
For the medium to longer term, we see high growth potential in the auto display market, thanks to wider adoption of vehicle display and larger panel size. It is true that strong growth potential is inviting more competition, but the company will achieve competitive advantage in the market and solidify our business base with our differentiated vehicle tandem OLED, LTPS LCD technology and improvement in cost competitiveness.
And about the order backlog that you asked about, please understand that we are not at liberty to disclose the exact size given the competing market environment and confidentiality with our customers.
[Interpreted] This concludes LG Display's Q3 2026 Earnings Conference Call. We thank everyone for joining us today. Should you have any additional questions, please contact the IR team. Thank you.
[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
LG Display Co. ADR — Q3 2026 Earnings Call
LG Display Co. ADR — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
[Interpreted] Good morning and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the LG Display earnings results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions].
Now we will begin the presentation on LG Display's Second Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 earnings results.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon. This is Kim Joo Dong, Vice President in charge of Finance and Risk Management at LG Display. Thank you for joining our second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining us today are CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun; Vice President, Cho Seung-Hyun, in charge of Business Control and Management; Vice President, Kim Jong-Deok, in charge of large display planning and management; Ahn Yu-Shin, in charge of medium display planning and management; Vice President, Baek Seung-Ryong, in charge of small display planning and management; Vice President [indiscernible], Head of Auto Marketing; and Lee Gil Young, in charge of Business Intelligence.
Today's conference call will be conducted in both Korean and English. For more details on the company's performance, please refer to our disclosure, which is released just now or the Investor Relations section in the company website. Please refer to the disclaimer before we begin the presentation.
Please be informed that the financial figures presented in today's earnings release. Our consolidated figures prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. These figures have not yet been audited by an external auditor and are provided for the convenience of our investors.
I will now report on the company's business performance in Q2 2026. The company's production and shipments for mobile products in Q2 declined due to the seasonality. While shipments of medium- and large-sized products increased driven by pull-in effects from sporting events, et cetera. With the won to dollar exchange rate remaining high, revenue in Q2 rose slightly Y-o-Y and Q-o-Q to KRW 5.61 trillion.
As for P&L in Q2, the company recorded an operating loss, reflecting one-off costs from intensive workforce restructuring. However, with OLED capability stabilizing, and company-wide cost reduction efforts continuing, operating performance, excluding one-off costs was in the black, improving significantly Y-o-Y. Even after accounting for seasonality and one-off costs, the company achieved profit for the first half of the year for the first time in 5 years since 2021.
Operating profit margin was minus 2% and EBITDA margin, 16%. Net income recorded a loss of KRW 418.8 billion due to the impact of FX translation loss as the exchange rate continued its rise from the previous quarter.
Next is area shipment and ASP trends. Second quarter area shipment grew by 12% from the previous quarter to 3.6 million square meters resulting from an expansion in shipments of medium- and large-sized products despite some changes in the product mix.
Price per square meter fell 13% Q-o-Q to $1,079 following the seasonal decline in shipments of mobile products, which command relatively higher price per square meter.
Next, I will discuss the revenue breakdown by product category.
IT -- sorry, TV accounted for 21% of total revenue; IT, 36%; mobile and others, 32%; and auto 10%.
In the large-size segment, which includes OLED TVs as well as OLED gaming monitors, TV share out of revenue rose by 5 percentage points Q-o-Q, thanks to increased shipments. Mobile and others declined by 5 percentage points from the previous quarter due to OLED seasonality.
OLED share out of revenue was 57%, increasing slightly Y-o-Y. The process of upgrading our business structure. For example, expanding the OLED business and strengthening the company's fundamentals and competitiveness is still underway as planned and its benefits are expected to become increasingly evident over time.
Next is financial position and key metrics. Cash and cash equivalents in Q2 was KRW 1.452 trillion, slightly down Q-o-Q. Debt-to-equity ratio stood at 20%, and the net debt-to-equity ratio at 156%. Exchange rate volatility associated with the high exchange rate has partly affected these financial ratios. But our work to achieve long-term financial stability continues unchanged.
Next is guidance for Q3. For Q3, shipments of large and mobile OLED products are expected to increase due to the positive seasonality, but the total area shipment is expected to rise by mid-single-digit percent Q-o-Q on the heels of some pull-in effect in Q2 and the ongoing optimization strategy of our IT LCD portfolio.
As for the price per square meter, it is expected to rise by a high-teen percent level driven by shipment expansion, thanks to the mobile OLED seasonality.
I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun.
[Interpreted] Good morning and afternoon. This is the CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun. Thank you for joining us at this conference call.
Allow me to first discuss our Q2 results. In Q2, shipments of medium to large products increased, thanks to pull-in effects from sporting events, et cetera, as well as a favorable exchange rate, but it ended an operating loss in Q2, owing to the decline in mobile panel shipment due to the traditional seasonality and one-off costs from previously announced workforce optimization.
But our core business profitability, excluding one-off costs remain in the black, achieving an improvement of over KRW 100 billion in the first half Y-o-Y. We were able to minimize the impact from seasonality and one-off costs in the first half, thanks to the upgrade to OLED centric business structure based on technological leadership.
To be more specific, we have been undertaking rigorous and ongoing cost reduction initiatives company-wide to strengthen competitiveness. Not only that, there were parallel efforts toward yield improvement, profitability focused product portfolio adjustment and revenue expansion through partnerships with global customers, which created the foundation to deliver strong results despite the uncertain external environment.
Although external uncertainties and macroeconomic volatility will persist in the second half, the company plans to continue strengthening our competitiveness around 2 pillars: securing top-tier technology and advancing cost innovation based on technology.
In particular, beyond simple cost cutting, we will maximize efficiency across the entire process from development to manufacturing through AI and digital transformation centered on AX-driven technological innovation. As production capability enhancement is expected to fundamentally improve the company's structure and drive growth based on differentiated customer value.
These efforts will ultimately result in fundamental competitiveness, encompassing cost advantage, differentiation and concentration annual instrumental in building a business structure that generates sustained long-term profits.
Among the elements that constitute fundamental competitiveness, we believe the most essential is to secure cost leadership to create synergy with our technology differentiation strategy. Accordingly, we will keep prioritizing cost optimization and technology-driven differentiation across the company, along with flexible targeted allocation of resources as circumstances require to generate stable returns.
Furthermore, we will use the resulting stable profits to strengthen our financial position and leverage that stronger financial base as a catalyst for future growth. thereby completing a virtuous cycle that solidifies our market position lot the containment similar.
I will now briefly outline our plans and strategies for each business area. For large OLED, we will strengthen our premier market leadership and expand performance with the product lineup that combines differentiated technology and cost competitiveness. As the monitor market increasingly shifts from LCD to OLED, we plan to capitalize on the unique strengths and differentiators of our large W OLED to reinforce high-value product lines like gaming OLED monitors and increased shipments.
For small and medium displays, we will focus on differentiated competitive technologies and strengthen competitiveness based on high-end products. We will also leverage our stable system of technology, development and mass production to respond flexibly to market changes.
Particularly in mobile OLED, we will pursue profitability through new technology development, yield improvement and cost minimization while striving to deliver unique value to customers and consumers.
The automotive market is growing faster than other display segments and is thus more competitive. We will leverage our differentiated product and technology portfolio to lead market share and continuously strengthen our position.
Building on these initiatives, we will strive to deliver tangible results in the second half of the year. Along the same line, we will continue driving annual performance improvements by upgrading our cost innovation and strengthening business competitiveness to solidify a stable profit structure.
Last is our investment strategy. We remain focused on developing differentiated technologies across all product lines to secure future competitiveness and achieve fundamental cost innovation.
Having said that, large-scale investments that lead to mass production require various conditions such as demand visibility, confidence in market growth and discussions with customers to use our limited resources efficiently, we are carefully evaluating cost competitiveness, investment cost, technological advantages and the likelihood of securing stable returns.
CapEx spend in 2026 is expected to be in the mid- to high KRW 2 trillion range. Going forward, our investment decisions will be made at the optimal balance point, taking into account the company's financial position and long-term competitiveness. Thank you very much for your attention.
This concludes our presentation of business highlights for Q2 2026. We will now take your questions. Operator, please commence the Q&A session.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Won Suk Chung iM Securities.
2. Question Answer
[Interpreted] I have 2. The first is that, there has been some pull-in demand in the second quarter. So considering such pull-in demand, then my question is on the amount of one-off costs incurred in Q2 and the operating performance, excluding those one-off cost. And also, I wonder whether there are any changes to the company's full year outlook compared to the start of the year?
And the second question is, the positive seasonality is starting in the third quarter. And along with that, it is likely to drive up the smartphone panel shipments. But there are also some potential risks such as weak IT device demand and heightened macroeconomic volatility. So what is the company's strategy to expand revenue and improve profitability in the second half?
[Interpreted] This is the CFO responding to your question. Now as had been announced earlier, we had undertaken the program as if this was going to be our last time. So in terms of the size from the perspective of the market and also from the perspective of the employees, it was much larger in terms of the packages as part of the voluntary retirement package.
So it ended at KRW 240 billion in one-off expense that was reflected into our second quarter.
And as I had announced in the first quarter earnings release call, I did commit that excluding such one-off costs, I was determined to see that our business performance was going to be seeing profit. Now what this achievement means is that now actually, 1 of the problems of the company had been our chronic suffering of losses in the second quarter for the past 4 years.
So what this means is that excluding the one-off cost, we were able to put an end to the chronic losses that we have been suffering in the second quarter until now. And now the company believes that everything that we had planned for the second quarter this year has been smoothly achieved. And we believe that, that is thanks to our technological leadership and cost innovation. But of course, these are efforts and initiatives that we need to continue to refine and upgrade. And so we will continue to do so while adjusting the intensity and the extent.
And now the second part of your question was about the third quarter outlook as well as the company strategy. Now as the investors would be fully aware, our structure is such that we achieve pretty much all of our performance for the year in the third quarter and the fourth quarter. But now in the third quarter of this year, what is unique is the fact that there are so many uncertainties much more than usual. For example, the semiconductors, geopolitics and also the rise in the commodity prices as a result of this and all of them combined into the macroeconomic uncertainties as well.
Now despite that, the company will continue to try to achieve competitive cost cutting and provide the kind of technological value that is expected of us. meaning that we will continue to do our best to achieve the kind of business performance that we had planned for.
[Interpreted] We will take the next question.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Sung Kyu Kim from Daiwa Securities.
[Interpreted] Now it appears that the large size business is going to post stable operating profit margin in the first half of '26 following '25. So what is the company's profitability outlook for the second half of the year? And this is because with the greater China region suppliers, improving premium products like RGB mini LED and becoming more price competitive, what is the company's white OLED TV strategy to maintain high-end TV share?
And another question is, this is also mentioned by the CFO, but then the high-end gaming mode to market is growing fast and the white OLED-based OLED monitors seem to be driving higher white OLED shipments and strong results. So what is the current status of the OLED monitor business and also the company's mid- to long-term capacity strategy?
[Interpreted] Now this is Kim Jong-Deok of the large display planning and management, responding to this question. The market situation in the second half will be challenging due to the rising material costs like semiconductor components. And also with the World Cup coming to an end, the demand uncertainty in the second half is likely to be there. So we will continue to monitor the situation very closely. So we will continue rigorous cost innovation efforts and production technology improvement to overcome the difficult market environment.
And as for competition, yes, there have been aggressive promotions of RGB mini LED TVs by greater China suppliers, and that has intensified competition in the high-end segment. So the company will actively promote white OLED unique strength and technological differentiators and also strengthen high-end brand lineups with leading global set makers and expand mid- to low-end OLED TV offerings with the goal of solidifying our large science business and white OLED technology leadership.
And for monitors, the market has been relatively strong versus other IT products. In particular, OLED monitors only monitor is showing meaningful growth as the high-end gaming monitor market rapidly shift from LCD to OLED. We expect the share of OLED monitors within our large-size shipments to rise from the low 10% level last year to about 20% this year, with meaningful growth projected for next year as well. We will focus on product and customer strategies that optimize the TV and monitor production mix to maximize business performance and opportunities.
And last, for the mid- to long-term capacity operations, as I mentioned earlier, given the changes in the money to market, and also in cooperation with the global set makers, we will leverage improved market responsiveness to make full use of our existing capacity and actively respond to demand.
Next question please.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Jimmy Yoon from UBS Securities.
[Interpreted] I also have 2 questions regarding the midsized panel business. It appears as if the IT set prices are rising due to higher semiconductor costs, which could be a risk in the second half. So what is the company's outlook on the second half demand? And does the company foresee any potential risks to achieving your target profitability?
And the second question is, with the IT LCD sales and shipments declining and also with the mainstream customers appearing to be moving away from LCD towards OLED, what is the company's mid- to long-term IT LCD fab operation strategy and IT OLED business strategy?
[Interpreted] Thank you. This is Ahn Yu-Shin in charge of medium display planning and management, responding to these questions. Now with the rising component costs such as semiconductors and the consequent IT set price hikes, they -- these factors make the second half demand highly uncertain. To prepare for demand declines and intensify competition, we are trying to secure supply flexibility and closely monitoring the market.
In the second half, building on long-standing customer trust, we will further refine our customer mix towards high-end accounts, focus on differentiated high-end products actively reduce low-margin products and continue with our cost-cutting efforts to maximize profitability-based opportunities. With all these initiatives, we expect profitability to continue improving Y-o-Y.
And regarding the IT OLED, we are preparing for the future by actively reviewing more competitive approaches such as utilizing existing fabs, to secure fundamental competitiveness and run our fabs more efficiently.
[Interpreted] We will take 1 last question.
[Interpreted] The last question will be presented by HyeonWoo Park from Shinhan Investment & Securities.
[Interpreted] I have a couple of questions about the small size business. The company's panel share in the smartphone market has been steadily increasing. So what is the company's plan for additional investment to meet rising demand and what strategies and preparations are in place to secure technological leadership.
And the second question is, it appears that the handset makers cost burden continues to rise. So if that price hikes lead to an accelerated decline in panel ASPs, it could affect planned profitability. So what is the company's outlook and what measures will you take to mitigate the risk, if at all?
[Interpreted] Thank you. This is Baek Seung-Ryong in charge of small display planning and management, responding to the questions. The company is steadily increasing our smartphone panel market share based on overwhelming technological competitiveness and product reliability. To meet rising demand in a timely manner, we will not only utilize our existing production infrastructure efficiently but also carefully review and execute preemptive investment in new technologies.
Now there are some concerns about the rising component costs and the macro changes, which the -- which is actually affecting the industry on the whole, and we do recognize that there are such concerns. Accordingly, we will sustain solid profitability through cost innovation across production and operations while contributing to customers' new model competitiveness through timely development of new technologies. By doing so, we hope to further strengthen the technological barrier to entry into the smartphone panels.
[Interpreted] This concludes LG Display's Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call. We thank everyone for joining us today. Should you have any additional questions, please contact the IR team. Thank you.
LG Display Co. ADR — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
LG Display Co. ADR — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
[Interpreted] Good morning and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the LG Display earnings results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on LG Display's First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026 earnings results.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon. This is Kim Joo Dong, Vice President, in charge of Finance and Risk Management Division at LG Display. Thank you for joining our first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining us today are CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun; Vice President, [ Cho Seung Hyun ] in charge of Business Control and Management; Vice President, [ Kyong Jeong Deuk ], in charge of Large Display Planning and Management; [ Hong-jae Shin ] and Ahn Yu-Shin, in charge of Medium Display Planning and Management; Vice President, [ Paek Seung-yong ], in charge of Small Display Planning and Management, Vice President, [ Sang Keuk Kwon ] in charge of Auto Marketing and [ Kim Kyu-dong ], Leader of the Business Intelligence team.
Today's conference call will be conducted in both Korean and English. For detailed performance-related materials, please refer to our disclosure or the Investor Relations section in the company website. Please refer to the disclaimer before we begin the presentation. Please be informed that the financial figures presented in today's earnings release are consolidated figures prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. These figures have not yet been audited by an external auditor and are provided for the convenience of our investors.
I will now report on the company's business performance in Q1 2026. Revenue in Q1 was KRW 5.534 trillion, down 9% year-over-year and 23% quarter-on-quarter on the back of stable OLED product shipment and favorable exchange rate and despite such external factors as the seasonality and the base effect coming from the discontinuation of the LCD TV business in Q1 last year. Operating profit was KRW 146.7 billion, rising Y-o-Y, driven by strengthened business structure and sustained OLED performance. Operating profit margin was 3%, and EBITDA margin was 21%. Net income recorded a loss of KRW 575.7 billion due to the impact of FX translation loss on foreign currency debt as the high exchange rate persisted.
Next is area shipment and ASP trends. Area shipment in Q1 was 3.2 million square meters, down 21% Q-o-Q. On top of the seasonality, there was continued push by the company to streamline low-margin models, primarily in the midsized product line. As for ASP per square meter, it fell 4% Q-o-Q due to the seasonal decline in small panel products with relatively high price per square meter. But at $1,244 it was up 55% Y-o-Y, thanks to the rising share of OLED as a result from the company's business structure upgrade efforts.
Next, I will discuss the revenue breakdown by product category. TV was 16% and IT 37%. Mobile and Others segment accounted for 37%, down 3 percentage points Q-o-Q as the market entered into seasonality. Auto, which is relatively less season sensitive, took up 10%, up 3 percentage points Q-o-Q. The OLED product group accounted for 60% of total revenue, up 5 percentage points Y-o-Y. We believe that through our persistent internal push to enhance our business structure and shift to an OLED-centric company, we have established a structure that can generate meaningful performance despite unfavorable externality.
Next is financial position and key metrics. Cash and cash equivalents in Q1 was KRW 1.525 trillion, largely unchanged Q-o-Q. Of the main financial ratios, current ratio was 74%, almost flat Q-o-Q with debt-to-equity ratio at 251% and the net debt-to-equity ratio at 157%. While there have been temporary fluctuations quarter-on-quarter due to adjustment in our borrowing portfolio and the impact of exchange rates, we plan to further strengthen our financial soundness in the long term.
Next is guidance for Q2. Total area is expected to grow by low 10% level Q-o-Q, driven by shipment increase, mainly in large-sized panels. As for the price per square meter, it is expected to fall by low to mid-10% due to lower shipments resulting from mobile products seasonality, which typically command higher price per square meter.
I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Senior Vice President, Kim Sung-Hyun.
[Interpreted] Good morning and afternoon. This is the CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun. Thank you for joining us at this conference call. Despite the seasonality in Q1, we were able to remain profitable for 3 months in a row, thanks to our years-long internal efforts such as initiatives to transition to a business structure based on OLED and high-end strategic customers as well as the innovation of cost and improvement of operational efficiency. Furthermore, we have significantly enhanced business stability and competitiveness by increasing the share of OLED out of total revenue to 60%, a 5 percentage point increase Y-o-Y. The clearly improved business fundamentals will serve as the solid foothold for a sustainable profit-generating structure that the company aspires for and will be the driving force behind our continued improvement in business performance.
We will keep working to ensure stable OLED-centered product shipments and the expansion of business performance. But looking at the external environment, uncertainties today are higher than ever before. The scope and scale of these uncertainties continue to grow, including not only rising semiconductor prices, but also declining global demand, rising energy costs and supply chain disruptions, making it difficult to estimate their full impact at this point. Accordingly, we believe that close monitoring of the external volatility and uncertainties, along with the ability to respond swiftly are essential capabilities that the company must possess and that the situation requires more cautious approach. Meanwhile, even as external uncertainties persist, it is highly positive that our competitiveness in high-spec products, which is our strength, is increasing and that technological barriers are rising along with it.
Even as we seek optimal response to external uncertainties, we will strive to secure financial soundness and achieve sustainable results that meet the expectations of the market and our customers based on a company-wide effort to strengthen our technological differentiation. Next, allow me to briefly outline our plans and strategies by business segment. In the small-sized mobile business, we will flexibly respond to our customers' diverse technical needs based on our technological leadership and reliable supply capabilities. We will also efficiently utilize our existing production infrastructure to ensure seamless preparation for the future.
In the midsized business, we plan to continue improving profitability by focusing on high value-added products, actively responding to customer demand with our differentiated competitiveness in tandem OLED and high-end LCD technology. We also intend to keep improving our product portfolio with a focus on profitability to further enhance production efficiency. In large panel business, we plan to strengthen our premium product lineup based on our white OLED technology while also expanding our range of price competitive products. And in monitor business, where the shift to OLED is accelerating rapidly, we intend to grow our OLED business and focus on acquiring customers by expanding our gaming product lineup, which incorporates our proprietary technology. And in auto, where competition is increasingly fierce, we will keep solidifying our market position based on our differentiated product and technology portfolio.
Finally, a few words on our investment. We maintain the principle of allocating CapEx primarily towards essential current investment and future-proof technology investment. The investment disclosed last afternoon in new OLED technology infrastructure was also decided in this context. We plan to strengthen our technological competitiveness and growth foundation by continuing to upgrade our OLED technology as a way to respond to future market trends and customers' demand. At the same time, our work to optimize investment efficiency will continue unchanged. CapEx in 2026 is expected at around KRW 2 trillion. We will continue to build up a decision-making framework that enables a prudent yet flexible response by finding the right balance between preparing for future growth and ensuring financial soundness.
This concludes our presentation of business highlights for Q1 2026. We will now take your questions. Operator, please commence the Q&A session.
[Operator Instructions]
[Interpreted] The first question will be provided by Gang Ho Park from Daishin Securities.
2. Question Answer
[Interpreted] Thank you for taking my question, which is on the disclosure of new investment that was made yesterday. So the disclosure was for about KRW 1.1 trillion in OLED. And so my question is, can the company provide more details about this disclosure? And recent media reports have mentioned that another company is exclusively supplying into foldable products. Is the disclosed investment for new -- is it for new form factors to counter this? And if that is the case, then what is LGD's business strategy regarding foldable smartphones and its market entry?
[Interpreted] This is the CFO. Allow me to respond to your first question. Now as everyone would know, in the industry, we see that the technological development is really accelerating at a remarkable pace. And the importance of technology is also translating into the competitiveness of companies. So all the companies are now struggling and really competing against each other to secure the competitiveness. Now as has been reiterated several times, the company is focused on the OLED business. Accordingly, the more ready we are with new OLED technologies and the more technologically competitive we are, then there will be more business opportunities coming our way, and we will be able to maintain our competitiveness across the industry.
And yes, the company has disclosed -- made disclosure about new facility investment within this context. And as for the specifics, I would love to share more of them, but then given the fact that our new technology directly translates into new technologies for our customers, please understand that I am not in the position to discuss them further.
[Interpreted] This is [ Paek Seung-yong ] in charge of Small Display Planning and Management and allow me to respond to the question about the foldables. Our position and perspective on foldable devices remain unchanged. Foldables offer consumers differentiated value through a new form factor, and there are growing market expectations that they will be the new growth driver. But until we gain visibility into market size, pace of growth and our own opportunities, our strategy will be to grow performance by maximizing production and sales of existing products. If clear opportunities are identified in the smartphone sector, we will prepare a supply system after carefully reviewing such factors as market acceptance of differentiated products and growth rate, and we will then try to build on our mass production experience in midsized foldable devices to expand new business opportunities in the smartphone sector.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Jimmy Yoon from UBS Securities.
[Interpreted] My question is regarding the overall panel business. Today, we see that the memory shortage is driving up memory prices and oil price is also surging following the Middle East conflict. Such mounting uncertainties may trigger more concerns regarding potential production disruptions in the tech value chain, shifts in demand, rising cost and price pressure from customers. What is the expected impact on demand? And what will be the company's response?
[Interpreted] This is [ Cho Seung Hyun ] in charge of business control and management. Now it is true that the market today is facing growing uncertainties stemming from the memory shortage and the impact of the geopolitical conflict. But I believe that we have to look at the first half and the second half of the year separately. Now in the first half, we are seeing some pull in demand due to concerns over memory supply. And with the scheduled major sporting events coming around, there is expected to be some positive impact. Now going into the second half of the year, considering factors such as component price hikes, set price changes and macro uncertainties coming from the Middle Eastern situation, we will have to be more cautious in our approach to market changes.
While external uncertainties are increasing across the market, the impact varies slightly by company depending on their customer and product structure. The impact of rising chip prices is more pronounced in the mid- to low-end product segments, meaning that the impact on global customers with relatively strong SCM competitiveness is likely to be quite limited. It might even be an opportunity for them. So against the risk of growing volatility, we will closely monitor changes in demand and trends in component supply and demand. We will collaborate with customers and focus more on cost innovation drawing from our global customer portfolio and established high-end product lineup and successfully navigate these challenging market conditions.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Jung Hoon Chang from Samsung Securities.
[Interpreted] My question is similar with some of the previous questions. There has been some uncertainties in the business, as the CFO has mentioned, with the pronounced effect of the U.S. and Iran conflict, especially on the rise on the commodity prices. So, so far, there was some discussion about the midsized and small-sized businesses. But then for the large panel business as well, then what will be the company's operational strategy as well as the growth strategy for the future? If you could provide us with an update, what's helpful.
[Interpreted] This is [ Kyong Jeong Deuk ] in charge of large display planning and management. For our large panel business, amid industry volatility this year such as rising prices of commodity as well as the components like semiconductors, we plan to establish a stable revenue structure and strengthen our fundamentals by enhancing our high-end OLED TV lineup with leading global set makers and also by expanding our mid- to low-end OLED TV lineup. And for the OLED monitor segment, the high-end gaming monitor market is very rapidly shifting from LCD to OLED. And we -- and the share out of our total shipment is likely to grow very significantly from low teen percent last year to around 20% this year. So our product and customer strategy will be about maximizing our business performance and opportunities through an optimized production share between TVs and monitors and to keep solidifying our market leadership.
[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Won Suk Chung from iM Securities.
[Interpreted] Now I also have 2 brief questions. Now we have been discussing uncertainties a number of times so far. But now yes, as the uncertainties continue, I believe that perhaps cutting losses from the IT business has made a significant contribution to the company improving profitability Y-o-Y and also for the year. Then as the uncertainties continue, then when does the company believe that you will be able to turn around to profitability? And also looking at the OLED new investment disclosure yesterday, it seems as if the company is also increasing OLED investment into new technologies. Now given the fact that the other companies are also looking into the investment for the 8-gen IT OLED and so forth. So what is the company's plan for investment down the road?
[Interpreted] This is Ahn Yu-Shin, in charge of Medium Display Planning and Management. Now the ongoing uncertainties in the external environment, including the U.S.-Iran conflict makes it difficult to expect a recovery in the IT sector this year. To prepare for increased demand volatility in the second half due to rising commodity prices and prices of components like semiconductors, we are securing supply flexibility and closely monitoring the situation. Although sales and shipment volumes decreased Y-o-Y in the first quarter, profitability improved thanks to internal initiatives like strengthening our product mix. For the year, we will focus on high-end differentiated products based on long-established customer trust, technological competency and responsiveness and further upgrade our high-end focused customer structure and maximize opportunities with a select and focused approach tailored to customer demand, which will keep up our trend of improving profitability.
And regarding IT OLED, as the transition from LCD to OLED accelerates, starting with tablets and extending to monitors, we are aware of the growing interest in the market as well. IT products have a diverse customer base and product specifications and having sufficient demand to keep the fab running is crucial. To do that, we need to meet consumer needs for technological capabilities and price competitiveness as well.
As the period of uncertainty and high volatility in demand continues, we intend to proceed cautiously until there is clearer demand visibility for OLED in the downstream. Until we have enough visibility to make investment decisions, we plan to utilize our existing infrastructure as efficiently as possible. We are actively exploring various strategies to prepare for future opportunities, and we will be ready to respond in a timely manner when the market begins to fully take off.
We will take one last question.
[Interpreted] The last question will be presented by HyeonWoo Park from Shinhan Investment & Securities.
[Interpreted] The company is reportedly implementing voluntary retirement this year again following last year. So what is the expected scale of this adjustment? And when will this be reflected? Will there be more of this type of workforce adjustment and onetime cost in the future?
[Interpreted] Yes. So as have been reported in the media, there is going to be another round of workforce adjustment this year. And this is part of the company's effort and transition to an OLED-centric company. So along with this, we have been upgrading our business structure and improving our product portfolio and strengthening our cost structure and also undertaking cost innovation. Now we are aware of the sense of fatigue that the shareholders might be feeling as the similar event continues to repeat itself. And for the short term, yes, this will be something that will incur cost to the company, and this is the kind of decision that requires very cautious approach as well. But we also see this as a necessary process for the company to remain sustainable, and we have made this decision from a long-term perspective.
And as this is an internal company process, the specific terms cannot be disclosed for which I ask for understanding. But then there have been some fairly detailed reporting by the media as well. But again, the program is still ongoing. It's not been concluded yet. So as for the specific overall cost or the scale, it is too early to tell. Now yes, it is true that having the repeated implementation of the voluntary retirement by no means is desirable for the company either. But if it does have to happen, then it better happen within a short period of time so that the sense of stability will be restored among our members. And that is why we have -- we are offering a much strengthened package this time around. And this is part of the company's plan to make sure that this does not have to happen again in the near future.
Now the second quarter for the company historically has been a period of poor financial performance. Now of course, we have undertaken some business restructuring, business realignment and also cost innovation efforts. And as a result of the series of efforts, we were planning and expecting profitability in the second quarter of this year. And that is how the business was managed as well for at least 1 month. So we were expecting to see profit in the second quarter. And despite that, of course, we continue to try to become a better company, a more sustainable company for the longer term.
So on that note, I would also like to ask for a more positive view from the shareholders and investors as well.
[Interpreted] This concludes LG Display's Q1 2026 Earnings Conference Call. We thank everyone for joining us today. Should you have any additional questions, please contact the IR team. Thank you very much.
[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
LG Display Co. ADR — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the LG Display earnings results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on LG Display's Fourth Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025 Earnings results.
Good afternoon. This is This is Heo Suk, Leader of the LG Display IR team. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Joining us today are CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun; Vice President, Choi Hyun-Chul, in charge of Business Control and Management; Vice President, Kim Kyu Dong, in charge of Finance and Risk Management; Lee Ki-Yong, in charge of Business Intelligence; Vice President, Kim Yong Duck, in charge of Large Display Planning and Management; and Ahn Yoo-shin, in charge of Medium Display Planning and Management, Park Sang-woo, in charge of Small Display Planning and Management and Son Ki Hwan, Head of Auto Marketing.
Today's conference call will be conducted in both Korean and English. For detailed performance-related materials, please refer to our disclosure or the Investor Relations section in the company website. Please refer to the disclaimer before we begin the presentation.
Please be informed that the financial figures presented in today's earnings release are consolidated figures prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. These figures have not yet been audited by an external auditor and are provided for the convenience of our investors.
I will now report on the company's business performance in Q4 2025. Shipment of panels for TVs and notebook PCs in Q4 remained solid, but there were some changes to the mix in some small and medium OLED products that lessen the usual seasonality. As a result, revenue rose slightly Q-o-Q to KRW 7.2008 trillion.
Operating profit declined Q-o-Q to KRW 168.5 billion. It is owed to lower shipments of certain small and medium OLED models Q-o-Q together with one-off costs related to strengthening the company's profit structure and future competitiveness.
As noted in last quarter's earnings call, for the purpose of raising the efficiency of manpower structure, costs associated with voluntary retirement program for domestic and overseas employees exceeded KRW 90 billion. In addition, fourth quarter included incentive payments as rewards to employees for achieving the company's first annual turnaround in 4 years and as motivation to further bolster the company's competitiveness. Cost for activities such as reducing low-margin products and inventory rationalization were also included in Q4 results, which were part of the initiative to adjust the company's business and product portfolio.
It was intended to strengthen our profit structure and operational efficiency.
Operating performance in Q4, excluding these one-off costs, expanded both Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y, demonstrating continued improvement in our business fundamentals and profitability. There was net loss of KRW 351.2 billion down Q-o-Q, primarily due to foreign currency translation loss stemming from the higher year-end exchange rate. EBITDA in Q4 was KRW 1.162 trillion, with an EBITDA margin of 16%.
Next is shipment area and ASP trends. What we are seeing recently is that panel shipments by product have diverged from traditional seasonality, reflecting instead the downstream conditions, customers' inventory levels and strategic panel buying trends as well as differences in customer and/or product strategies among panel suppliers, particularly for the company, as we maintain profitability-focused product portfolio, shipment of low-margin midsized LCD models continue to shrink.
Specifically in Q4, shipment area for TV and notebook PC panels grew quarter-on-quarter, while shipment for monitor and tablet panels declined. As a result, despite the strong seasonality, total shipment area rose modestly Q-o-Q to 4.0 million square meters.
ASP per square meter was $1,297, down 5% quarter-on-quarter largely because shipment of certain small and midsized OLED models were concentrated in Q3. Although it fell Q-o-Q, it is up 49% year-on-year, reflecting continued progress in upgrading the business structure toward OLED and supporting expectations at the high level will be maintained going forward.
Next is revenue share by product group. Overall revenue share remained largely unchanged from Q3. First, mobile and others accounted for 40% of revenue, up 1 percentage point Q-o-Q, mainly due to shifts in the product mix. IT revenue share remained almost unchanged at 36%, down 1 percentage point Q-o-Q, reflecting the deferring shipments across product categories, as described earlier.
TV share out of revenue rose slightly by 1 percentage point as shipments of white OLED panels for TV and monitor increased. Auto revenue share rose to 7%, down 1 percentage point Q-o-Q. OLED products accounted for 65% of total revenue in Q4, unchanged Q-o-Q and up 5 percentage points Y-o-Y. Year-to-date, OLED share rose to 61% from 55% last year, up 6 percentage points. The continued upgrade toward OLED center business structure is steadily broadening and strengthening our growth and profitability base.
Next is our financial position and key indicators. Cash and cash equivalents at quarter end were KRW 1.573 trillion, largely unchanged Q-o-Q. As we wind down nonstrategic businesses such as LCD TV and improve operating efficiency, the level of required operating capital has remained lower than in the past.
Inventory at quarter end declined Y-o-Y to KRW 2.546 trillion, reflecting progress from our efficiency improvement efforts. Total debt decreased by KRW 1.886 trillion from the end of 2024 to KRW 12.664 trillion. And net debt fell by KRW 1.437 trillion Y-o-Y to KRW 11.0910 trillion.
Debt-to-equity ratio improved to 243% and net debt-to-equity ratio to 141%, lower by 20 percentage points and 10 percentage points, respectively, Q-o-Q and lower by 64 percentage points and 14 percentage points Y-o-Y, further strengthening our financial soundness.
I will now move on to guidance for Q1. Shipment area is expected to fall across all categories in Q1 due to seasonality. While ASP per square meter is also expected to fall slightly Q-o-Q, it will be tempered compared to the same quarters in the past due to the strong and sustained upgrade to OLED-centric business structure.
Total shipment area is projected to decrease by low 20% level from the previous quarter and ASP per square meter to decline by mid-single-digit percent. Notably, ASP per square meter is expected to remain above the $1,200 line even through the seasonality of Q1 up by more than 50% Y-o-Y.
I will now hand over to our CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun.
Good afternoon and evening to everyone. I am Kim Sung-Hyun, the CFO. Thank you very much for joining today's conference call. Looking back to last year's performance, our most significant achievement was delivering a meaningful scale of turnaround after 4 years, improving profitability by more than KRW 1 trillion Y-o-Y, thanks to the hard work and dedication of all our members. Despite elevated external uncertainty and volatility in global markets, we continue to expand OLED revenue share and persisted with intensive structural improvements. As a result, we reduced our loss by roughly KRW 2 trillion in 2024 versus '23 and further improved results by about KRW 1 trillion in 2025.
OLED share out of revenue reached a record high of 61% for the year. It was only 32% when we began business structure upgrade in 2020 and rose to 44% in 2022, then again to 55% in 2024. We believe that we are moving much closer to the complete solidification of our OLED-centric business structure, having terminated the large LCD business with the sell-off of Guangzhou LCD plants in 2025.
Allow me to explain the one-off cost in Q4. There were explanation and guidance for costs related to voluntary retirement program provided at last year's October earnings call. And the actual cost incurred roughly KRW 90 billion is largely in line with the guidance. These costs include besides workforce rationalization to strengthen our business fundamentals, local workforce adjustment costs that were incurred while trying to improve our overseas production strategies to proactively address changes in trade and tariff environment, as well as customers' production strategies. Financial impact from the voluntary retirement cost is unchanged from what we described at last quarter. The one-off costs will be offset from about 18 months after implementation and will contribute positively to future results.
In addition, as mentioned as part of the Q4 performance briefing, incentive payments tied to last year's business performance were also reflected. It is to recognize our members' role in achieving the first annual turnaround in 4 years and to motivate them further going forward. The incentive is intended to further support our ability to shift towards a technology-centric company by focusing more on improving our fundamentals, build a sustainable profit structure and better achieve our future goals.
Last item is the cost associated with the strengthening profitability and improving operating efficiency. It will enable the company to boost future profitability and broader push to improve operational efficiency, such as reducing low-margin products or consolidating inventory and is expected to strengthen business performance overall.
Total nonrecurring cost impact in Q4 was in the high KRW 300 billion range, which is the result of the company's activities and work to strengthen our profit structure and future competitiveness. Excluding these items, Q4 operating profit was roughly mid KRW 500 billion, exceeding market expectations. It is an improvement Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y underscoring continued improvement in our business fundamentals and profit structure.
Looking ahead, we expect external uncertainty and product level volatility in the downstream market to persist this year. While numerous factors persist in our business environment like macroeconomic-driven real demand, changes in the trade environment and supply chain stability, we will remain focused on stabilizing our business performance by growing our OLED business and driving cost innovation and operational efficiency activities.
Next, let me briefly remark on our plan and strategy by business. For small mobile we will expand panel shipment, leveraging differentiated technological leadership and strengthened customer partnerships to enhance business performance and stability. At the same time, we will systematically execute R&D and new technology investments to grow our future opportunities.
For medium-sized OLED, we will respond to high-end market demand across product segments by leveraging our technological leadership and mass production experience. We will also respond proactively to shifting market demand and customer requests by more efficiently utilizing existing infrastructure. As to the demand for OLED conversion by product, which is expected to grow, we will carefully assess market size and conversion pace to enhance competitiveness in ways that will differentiate us.
For IT LCD, as reflected in recent quarterly shipment trends and results, we are keeping our focus on B2B and differentiated high-end LCD while continuing to reduce low-margin products. It is leading to meaningful profitability improvement every year. We will intensify execution of what is already underway to achieve possibility for a turnaround this year.
For large panels, we will solidify our leadership in the premium market through our differentiated and diversified TV and gaming OLED panel lineup on the back of growing recognition of white OLED's competitiveness and close collaboration with strategic customers. We will expand business results and pursue rigorous cost improvement to maintain stable operations.
And for automotive, we will sustain our competitive advantage and create customer value based on our market leadership and differentiated product and technology portfolio.
Finally, on investment. We maintained a CapEx policy focused on investments in our future readiness and structural upgrade. After investment optimization activities, CapEx in 2025 was completed at mid KRW 1 trillion. In 2026, CapEx is expected at KRW 2 trillion level, up Y-o-Y. This includes execution of the planned investment to enhance OLED technological competitiveness and investment to strengthen OLED business and future readiness. For any new investment decision, we will communicate with the market without delay.
This completes our report on Q4 business performance and review of 2025. Thank you very much.
This completes our presentation of business highlights for Q4 2025. We will now take your questions. Operator, please commence the Q&A session.
[Operator Instructions]
The first question will be provided by Kangho Park from Daishin Securities.
2. Question Answer
First of all, congratulations on achieving a turnaround for the first time in 4 years. Now I would like to ask 2 questions broadly about the company overall. The first is, in 2025, the company sold off its LCD company in China and continue with the business upgrade, and it has also increased the share of OLED out of the total revenue. It has also -- which has then improved the business performance as well as the profitability.
So looking ahead to this year, then it appears that the share of OLED appears to be set to keep growing, which is likely, hopefully, to keep driving up the revenue. So then my question is, what is the company's outlook for each business? And also what is the expected business performance for the year?
And also for the short term, I believe what the company needs in order to quell the negative perception about LG Display is to sever the trend of entering into loss in the first half of the year. So can we expect a better trend in the first half of this year? And the second question is, the company for the past few years has been focused on improving financial soundness, for example, improving the cost efficiency and also lowering the facilities and lowering the inventory level and also improving the overall operational efficiency.
Now then again, looking ahead to 2026 and also from a more mid- to long-term perspective, what is going to be the company's new strategic priorities or strategic tasks down the road? And especially for the CFO personally, what would be your priorities or what would be the important part of your action plan?
Thank you very much for the question, which was quite specific and also appear to have the answers embedded in them already. I would just like to provide my response at once based on my own interpretation of the questions.
Now, of course, so far, there have been work to upgrade our business structure and also improve our operational efficiency and the results or the performance out of that is, I believe, meeting up to the -- to our commitment to the market perhaps not 100% satisfactorily, but we have done the job.
But that does not mean that we can put an end to the process or the efforts that we have carried on for the past few years. Rather, they need to continue with new tasks in new phases. Now for the mid to long term, what is important and fundamental to the company is that, first of all, we need to keep growing; and second, we need to be steadfastly profitable every quarter.
Now, that would be my short answer to questions #1 and 2. But then now in order to enable the points that I have just made, then there are some points that we also need to reach and allow me to explain a bit more. Now today, an important theme for the company is to turn into a technology-centric company. But then looking around to our external environment, then again in 2026, as you would all know, the environment is still full of uncertainties and also unpredictable elements.
So then what should be the end goal for the company is -- so what I envision is that we need to become a normalized and competitive company. And this is because as we went through some tough times in the past few years, I see that the company has become perhaps a bit not typical and also perhaps that has eroded our competitiveness somewhat.
Well, as you would know, there were losses to our capital, which made it impossible for us to pay out dividends. And we were seeing large losses up until 2 years ago. Our financial position was quite bad so much so that we had to turn to our shareholders to go into a paid-in capital increase. Now looking at last year's performance, yes, we were profitable, but not in all businesses. And what we need to do now is complete a business structure where we will be profitable in each and every one of our businesses, and so that we can also revive trust from the market.
So this means that we also need to reestablish our operations inside the company and across the company. And there is no other choice but for us to continue with our business structure upgrade and operational efficiency improvement. But although the work and the efforts have to continue, I would say that the purpose has slightly become different, whereas in the past, it was more for survival. Now it is more about improving our competitiveness.
Competitiveness in our technology, competitiveness in our cost, competitiveness in our products and also competitiveness in our efficient operation. So once we hit all these targets, then I believe we can once again become the market leader. So once we finish that process, then we will once again become a normalized company, win back market trust and also win back the love from our shareholders. So I have been a little bit long winded, but I would say that this is a homework that I have assigned upon myself.
The following question will be presented by [ John Hou Yoon ] from UBS Securities.
My questions are also twofold. Now first is about the mobile OLED. Now the number for the smartphone panel shipment for last year and also the target for this year. So could you share the information regarding these numbers? And also depending -- so there were some changes in the product launch cycle by the customers and also looking at the technological preparedness by competitors, what are some of the opportunity factors that the company can expect? And another question. The following question is with regards to the company overall.
So following tariffs last year, this year, it appears as if the memory semiconductors trends are going to be the major factor that could affect the business performance of each business segment. So what is the company's perspective and intended response to this trend?
This is [ Park Sang Yoon ], in charge of a Smart Size Panel. Now looking back to smartphone business performance in 2025. The first half saw meaningful growth in panel shipments, largely reducing the seasonal variation between the first and second halves. In the second half, while the actual demand varied by model, the diversified product portfolio enabled our annual panel shipment target of around the mid-70 million units as planned.
And typically, panel shipment jump from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, but last year stood out in that panel shipments were relatively concentrated in the third quarter. Our smartphone business is generating stable results based on enhanced capabilities across our technology, production and operations. This year, we aim to further close the gap between the first and second half while outpacing last year's growth in panel shipment.
Now please understand that I am not in the position to comment on details about our customers. But what is certain is that our smartphone panel development and production capabilities are proven and recognized, and we have accumulated sufficient know-how to fully address diverse technical need. And we believe that by efficiently utilizing our existing production infrastructure, we can address swiftly and flexibly both the increasing demand and new technology readiness and grow our achievements.
Now I would like to respond to the question about the impact from the memory semiconductors. Largely, there are 2 types of impact. The first is with the increase in the memory price, then there would also be a pressure on the display pricing that it could also go up. And then this could also increase the -- and for the IT, it could also increase the set price, which could a dampen demand. And also the component price could also go up, meaning that there could also be pressure from customers to lower the panel price.
Having said that, the impact on the company currently remains limited, but the volatility is quite high. So we are carefully monitoring any changes in the demand as well as the trend and we'll also try to address any impact that might arise. Thank you.
The following question will be presented by Won Suk Chung from iM Securities.
They are also twofold. First, as was mentioned earlier, the rise in the memory semiconductor price could also bring some questions about the company's profitability. And so my question regarding the company's profitability is that now about the IT set, now it appears that the outlook for the downstream market for the IT set demand appears to be conservative.
So what is the company's outlook for the IT business? And also what would be the possibility of seeing a turnaround? And a related second question is, now the competition appears to be investing or going into mass production with the 8.6 gen plant, but the company at this time appears to have no such plans. Then wouldn't that place the company at a disadvantage when it comes to customers' allocation? And also, what is the outlook for the IT PC OLED for this year.
For this year, the company's midsized business focused on upgrading our customer structure around global high-end clients throughout 2025, while actively reducing low-margin products. At the same time, we sustained rigorous cost innovation activities, generating meaningful improvement in profitability Y-o-Y. We anticipate this trend to continue into 2026.
Now given the rising component prices driven by semiconductors, supply chain disruptions and lingering uncertainties in the broader external environment, full recovery in the market remains uncertain even in 2026, but we will strive to achieve differentiated results and profitability and future proofing. We will stick to our 2-track strategy with LCD focusing on profitability with high-end LCD and with OLED responding to new demand and preparing for new markets with Tandem OLED-based differentiated products.
We are closely monitoring the potential for OLED market expansion in IT. So we are closely monitoring the OLED market expansion in IT, but there is still insufficient visibility into demand to justify an 8.6 gen investment decision and external uncertainties remain high, that could also affect demand. So for now, the company intends to monitor market conditions before making investment decisions.
In the tablet OLED market that is -- that continues to open up, we have solidified our leading position based on the differentiated competitiveness of Tandem OLED technology at our 6 gen OLED fab. Monitor OLED is actively responding to the growing demand for high-end applications like gaming by leveraging our 8th Gen OLED fab. For notebook PC OLED, we are monitoring the OLED market size and the pace of demand shifting from LCD to OLED, maximizing existing infrastructure while developing future-ready technologies and mass production capabilities to retain a cost advantage even in competitive situation.
We will take one last question. The last question will be presented by [ Sung Kim ] from Kiwoom Securities.
My question is with regards to the large OLED. Now thanks to the cost improvement as well as lower depreciation and amortization cost, it appears as if the profitability has been improving since the second half of the year. So then what is going to be the outlook for the TV and monitor OLED this year? And so based on the higher demand for the TV and monitor OLED as well as the lower depreciation and appreciation -- depreciation and amortization, does the company expect the profitability to continue to improve this year?
And then also, the next question is now for the TV set companies, they are continuing to see sluggish differentiation and also worsening profitability. So there may also be some pressure to lower the price, but then what would be the company's response and also what would be the company's strategy down the road to continue to secure profitability in the large panel business?
This is Kim Yong Duck, in charge of Large Display Planning and Management. Now our large panel business, despite the external uncertainties and market volatility, achieved the intended panel shipment of approximately mid-6 million level in 2025, growing nearly 8% Y-o-Y. Now the white OLED for both TVs and monitors is recognized by the market and customers for their differentiated value compared to LCD. And that is why I believe that we were able to maintain such business.
Now coming into this year, we see that the uncertainty remains and also the market growth potential still remains a bit limited, but the high-end market that we are targeting with OLED maintains a 10% share of the overall market. So then in 2026, based on this projection, we plan to continue strengthening our W OLED, the white OLED lineup for TV and monitors based on partnerships with global strategic partners. And on the back of such partnership. The target for panel shipment in 2026 is set at just over 7 million to grow by around 10% Y-o-Y.
And for the mid to long term, OLED TV is expected to maintain unwavering leadership in the market while expanding our performance. And for -- especially for OLED monitors, it is also expected to see continued steep growth compared to other businesses. So we will continue to effectively respond to market trends and also reach an optimal production share between TVs and monitors to continue to expand our business performance.
And again, for the short term, this year, there is some positivity expected from some sporting events. But at the same time, some side effects are also expected, especially coming from the supply-demand situation of components, especially semiconductor. So for the company, as we look ahead to continued market growth, our priority lies in securing stability in our production as well as supply.
Now for our large panel business, we expect the competition to continue to intensify and it is incumbent upon us to continue to strengthen our technology and also differentiate our products so that we can keep expanding our business performance. So to that end, we will continue to work closely with our customers in close partnership to make sure that we can bring about win-win to all the companies involved with improved profitability. So we will continue to discuss our strategy to that end with our customers.
Thank you very much, and that concludes LG Display's Q4 2025 Earnings Conference Call. We thank everyone for joining us today. Should you have any additional questions, please contact the IR team. Thank you.
[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
LG Display Co. ADR — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the LG Display earnings results. This conference will start with a presentation followed by a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on LG Display's Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025 Earnings Results.
Good afternoon. This is Heo Suk, Leader of the LG Display IR team. Thank you for joining our third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Joining us today are CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun; Vice President, Choi Hyun-chul, in charge of Business Control and Management; Vice President, Kim Kyu Dong, in charge of Finance and Risk Management; Lee Kyung, in charge of Business Intelligence; Vice President, Kim Yong Duck, in charge of Large Display Planning and Management; Hong-jae Shin, in charge of Medium Display Planning and Management; Park Sang-woo, in charge of Small Display Planning and Management; and [ Hong Moon-tae ], Head of Auto Planning and Management.
Today's conference call will be conducted in both Korean and English. For detailed performance-related materials, please refer to our disclosure or the Investor Relations section in the company's website. Please refer to the disclaimer before we begin the presentation.
Please be informed that the financial figures presented in today's earnings release are consolidated figures prepared in accordance with IFRS. These figures have not yet been audited by an external auditor and are provided for the convenience of our investors.
I will now report on the company's business performance in Q3 2025. Panel shipment grew Q-o-Q across the entire OLED product line, driven by the start of seasonality and supply for new small- and medium-sized OLED products. Revenue was KRW 6.957 trillion, up by 25% Q-o-Q and up 2% Y-o-Y.
Operating profit reached KRW 431 billion, improving by over KRW 500 billion Q-o-Q and Y-o-Y. The improvement resulted from the growth in shipment and portion of OLED products as well as the company's ongoing intensive cost innovation activities. The number reflects around KRW 40 billion in onetime costs related to workforce efficiency activities, excluding which the business performance stands at approximately KRW 470 billion.
Net income was KRW 1.2 billion, including the impact from the foreign currency translation gain with the exchange rate rising Q-o-Q. EBITDA in Q3 was KRW 1.4239 trillion with an EBITDA margin of 20%.
Next is the trend in area shipment and ASP. In Q3, area shipment fell 1% Q-o-Q despite the seasonality and growing shipment of small and medium OLED product lines. This is following reduced shipment of low-margin midsized LCD models in line with our ongoing profitability-focused product portfolio management.
ASP per square meter was $1,365, up 29% Q-o-Q, slightly outperforming the guidance. It was driven by the higher-than-planned growth in shipments of small and medium OLED products. It is an all-time high, resulting in part from the rising portion of OLED.
Next is revenue share by product category. Mobile and Others, which has the largest share, reached 39%, up 11 percentage points Q-o-Q, led by panel shipment growth stemming from the seasonality and preparation for new products. In IT, while revenue grew on the back of sharp expansion in shipment of OLED panel for IT, there were larger changes in revenue in other businesses. As a result, its portion fell to 37%, shrinking by 5 percentage points Q-o-Q.
The TV segment's revenue share was 16%, down 4 percentage points Q-o-Q. Auto segment's share was 8%, down 2 percentage points Q-o-Q. The share of OLED products out of total revenue was 65%, up 9 percentage points Q-o-Q and 7 percentage points Y-o-Y. As we continue to expand the performance of OLED-centric business structure upgrade, its impact is further solidifying our foundation for growth and profitability.
Next is financial status and main indicators. Cash and cash equivalents in Q3 stood at KRW 1.555 trillion, largely unchanged Q-o-Q. As we keep downsizing nonstrategic businesses, for example, discontinuing the LCD TV business and enhancing operational efficiency, the size of essential working capital has also decreased.
Debt-to-equity ratio was 263% and net debt-to-equity ratio 151%, down 5 percentage points and 4 percentage points, respectively, Q-o-Q, further strengthening our financial soundness.
Next is Q4 guidance. Continuous growth is expected in area shipment of OLED products in Q4, while LCD shipment is expected to decrease as we keep running profitability-centered product portfolio. Accordingly, total area shipment is projected to grow in low single-digit percentage Q-o-Q.
And for ASP per square meter, we saw much more pronounced increase in Q3 than usual, thanks to shipment growth of small and midsized OLED driven by seasonality and preparation for new product launches. And that is also why going into Q4, we anticipate another higher level of ASP compared to average quarters. However, it is expected to decline in low single-digit percentage Q-o-Q due to some factors such as mix change in small and midsized OLED products.
And now let me hand over to our CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun.
Good afternoon, everyone. This is the CFO, Kim Sung-Hyun. Let me thank you all for joining us at our conference call.
Q3 this year was when we saw the results of our ongoing strategy to upgrade our business structure to be more OLED-centric and our strong initiatives for cost innovation beginning to come to fruition and manifest themselves into business performance.
As mentioned earlier, Q3 saw an increase in shipment coming from the seasonality, coupled with the impact of concentrated shipment of small and medium OLED for new products, it has boosted OLED product group's revenue share up to 65%. Based on this, Q3 year-to-date business performance showed revenue of KRW 18.6093 trillion and operating profit of KRW 345 billion, continuing the trend of improvement and giving more visibility to a full year turnaround after 4 years.
Despite the pressure on revenue from the discontinuation of the LCD TV business, it remained flat Y-o-Y, thanks to larger portion of OLED and premium products. Operating profit year-to-date improved by approximately KRW 1 trillion Y-o-Y. It is owed to the intense and speedy execution of strategic initiatives, including cost innovation and operational efficiency along with business structure upgrade.
External uncertainties and the consequent shipment volatility are expected to persist in Q4. There still remain variables in the business environment, including macro-related real demand, intensifying competition among suppliers and supply chain stability, but we plan to address these challenges by prioritizing business efficiency initiatives.
OLED products revenue share is expected to be similar Q-o-Q in Q4 with the annual share projected at a low 60% level. Incidentally, we are also planning for an additional workforce improvement program in Q4 as part of our ongoing cost innovation effort. The specifics cannot be disclosed in advance, but its impact on our financial performance is considered to be more than that of last quarter. The onetime cost occurred by this workforce improvement program will be offset after 1.5 years, providing positive impact on the business performance thereinafter.
Next, let me share our plans and strategies by business segment. For small mobile business, we plan to ensure more stable operations by expanding panel shipments every year based on our technological leadership and stronger partnership with our customers. At the same time, we will keep broadening our future business opportunities by methodically implementing all future-proofing activities, including R&D and investments in new technologies.
For IT OLED, which is part of our midsized business, we plan to respond to the growing demand in high-end tablet market with our Tandem OLED technology. And for the anticipated shift to OLED in the notebook sector, we will closely examine the market size and pace of change and respond effectively. Overall, we will enhance our responsiveness with differentiated approaches.
Leveraging our long-standing technological leadership and mass production competitiveness, we will solidify our leading position in the market. We will also proactively respond to changing environment, including market demand and customers' requests through efficient utilization of our existing infrastructure.
In IT LCD business, we remain focused on reducing low-margin products while focusing on B2B and differentiated high-end LCD segments. It is encouraging that this has led to meaningful improvement in profitability Y-o-Y. We will strengthen execution of our current initiatives to deliver improved results next year as well.
For large panel business, where OLED's differentiated competitiveness is well recognized in the market, we will further solidify our leadership in the premium market with a various lineup of OLED panels offering unique value based on close partnership with strategic customers. We will continuously grow our business performance and intensify cost improvement initiatives to maintain stable business operations.
Last is Auto. The market outlook is more positive than other product areas, led by expanding in-vehicle display adoption and accelerating enlargement of displays. While competition is expected to intensify, we plan to maintain our competitive edge and create differentiated customer value based on our solid market position and diversified technology and product portfolio.
Finally, on investment. Our principle in CapEx execution remains unchanged, focusing on investment for future preparedness and business structure upgrade. Because our investment efficiency initiatives continue, CapEx this year is expected to be at high KRW 1 trillion range below last year's level.
Moving forward, we will make prudent investment decisions while maximizing the use of existing infrastructure. New investments will be executed with profitability as the top priority. Thank you very much for your attention.
This concludes our presentation of business highlights for Q3 2025. We will now take your questions. Operator, please commence with the Q&A session.
Now Q&A session will begin. [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Gang Ho Park from Daishin Securities.
2. Question Answer
Congratulations on the good performance. Now I have largely 2 questions. Now I see that in the third quarter, the performance has risen sharply, and that appears to be on the back of rising revenue from the OLED panel as well as the revenue share of the OLED panel as well. Then the question is, does the company believe that it has the kind of structure that can sustain this kind of business performance down the road?
And then related to this, traditionally, the company has been sluggish in the first half because of the strategy of its strategic customer. But then given the fact that it saw a good performance in the first half of this year, then does the company believe that this marks any change in the structure of the OLED market or the OLED business? And then based on that, then what would be the outlook for next year first half and also for the whole year?
And the second question is, now in 2026, it appears that the macro uncertainties will continue and also competition continues to intensify even amidst the sluggish demand in the downstream. And as a result of this, then there could be some pressure from the customer to lower the ASP. Then how does the company intend to respond if such pressure should arise? And what is the company's strategy for continuous growth for the future?
This is VP Choi Hyun, in charge of the Business Control and Management responding to your questions. Now allow me to respond to the second part of your question first. And thank you very much for your interest in the company.
Now it is true that in the past few years, the uncertainty and volatility in the external environment have continued. But then the company have continued also to expand our business performance every year based on internal capabilities based on our push to upgrade our business structure to be more OLED-centric and also to continue with the cost innovation activities. And as a result, despite the various factors coming from the outside, we were able to improve our performance, and we intend to keep demonstrating more stable performance down the road.
Now looking back to the performance in the past 2 years, then last year, in 2024, we were able to narrow the loss by a very big margin of KRW 2 trillion from the previous 2023. And then for this year, although we still have the fourth quarter to go, we have the projection that we will be able to improve profitability by another KRW 1 trillion this year for the year.
Now looking ahead, uncertainties in the external environment are likely to persist. But then as explained earlier, based on the stronger business fundamentals as well as the ongoing efforts at cost innovation, we will continue to work to further improve our business performance next year as well Y-o-Y. And looking ahead, we will continue to maintain stable business performance.
And now it is true that there has been sluggish demand in the display market downstream and also stronger competition, making it difficult for any company to go for both growth and stable management of profitability at the same time. Having said that, the company will continue to try to expand our revenue and solidify our market leadership by increasing the OLED product portion, focusing more on high value-add and high-end products from global leaders and also developing the new growth engines based on differentiated technologies.
And now with regards to your question about the panel price, I take it that it is a question about our maintenance of the profitability. Now based on our strong partnership with our customers, we will continue to operate an optimum pricing strategy, while at the same time, upgrading our product mix and continuing with our cost innovation and operational efficiency activities at the same time so that we can continue to expand our profitability.
We will take the next question.
The following question will be presented by Mingyu Kwon from SK Securities.
Congratulations on the good performance. I have 2 questions, and one is about the mobile. So it seems that the -- so I'm wondering about the market reception to the launch of new models by the North American customer. Now from media reports, it seems as if the reception for the standard model is better than expected, for the air model, perhaps less so. Then what would be the implications for the LG Display? For example, will there be any changes in the expected shipments or in the market share?
And then the second question is now for the smartphone panel annual shipment target and the outlook for next year. So if there is a foldable product to be launched and also given the -- so given the likely launch of the foldable product and also the intensifying competition, then what is the possibility of shipment increase in 2026? If the company believes that shipment growth in 2026 is possible, then what would be the drivers for that?
And then the last question is related to the small to midsized OLED. Now because of the restructuring in the Japan Display Inc., it is understood that LG Display is now the sole supplier for the smartwatch panels. Then what will be the volume, the annual volume of supply? And also what will be the contribution to the company's revenue and profit and loss?
This is Park Sang-woo, in charge of Small Display Planning and Management. Now for the smartphone business, the company has been achieving stable performance, thanks to our stronger competitiveness with our technology and production as well as across all areas of operation.
And then in terms of the response to the new models by the customer, we understand that generally, it is quite positive. But then for the different models, the actual demand could be different. So this could also translate into some changes in the shipment plan based on the market trends.
And now in the first half, despite the seasonality, there was a meaningful shipment growth by over 20% Y-o-Y. And then in the second half, thanks to the diversified product portfolio and stable supply system as well as the efficiency improvement, there has been improvement in profitability as well. So for the year, we are confident that we will be able to further expand our performance from last year.
Now for the company, we believe that we have already have built up the technological know-how to flexibly respond to the diversifying needs from the customer. For example, by having a stronger capability in development and mass production of smartphone panels. And also by more efficiently utilizing the current infrastructure, we will be able to respond even more speedily and flexibly to new technologies and also growth in demand for different products.
And looking ahead, we will continue to create stable performance by strengthening our quality competitiveness, continuing with our cost innovation efforts and preparing for the future technologies based on our close partnership with the customer.
Now about the wearable devices, they are equipped with a number of different functionalities. And also across the society, we are seeing increased interest in health overall. So it seems as if the use of these products across the consumers' lifestyle in general is going to keep going up. So we believe that the outlook for the mobile OLED product market, including the smartphones is quite positive.
The company already has the best technological leadership and production capability in the smartwatch panel business. And recently, there has been a change in the supplier status in the industry, which has also resulted in the growth of panel supply volume. And we believe that this will serve to further solidify the company's position in the premium wearable market.
Now in terms of the annual supply volume, revenue, profitability and other information related to them are directly related to the customer. And thus, please understand that I am not in the position to discuss the details or the specifics. But then we will continue to create stable performance in the smartwatch panel business, utilizing our technological competitiveness and leading supplier status.
We will take the next question.
The following question will be presented by John Heekyu Yun from UBS Securities.
I have a question on the small mobile product. Now the market expectation is that in the second half of 2026, the North American customer will be launching a foldable smartphone product. Now then what would be LG Display's strategy for foldable smartphone panel business? And can you also share with us the status of the company's readiness for the product and technology?
Now for foldable products, there is growing anticipation from the market on the possibility of opening up new market segments for its differentiated form factor and the new user experience that it provides. Now if the foldable smartphone market becomes well established, then the product can also become the vehicle for trying out new technologies as the flagship model. So the company is closely monitoring the smartphone market trends as well as the demand outlook and is preparing for potential market growth.
But for now, our strategy is to maximize the supply volume for the existing products so that we can continue to heighten our performance until we can get better visibility into the demand growth as well as opportunities for the company. So the company continues with the series of activities to strengthen our R&D and acquire new technologies. Now in the smartphone areas, if we can come upon more clearer opportunities, then we will build up our supply structure and expand our business opportunities after carefully reviewing the market acceptance of differentiated product as well as the market growth pace.
We will take the next question.
The following question will be presented by Sun Kim from Kiwoom Securities.
I have 2 regarding the IT business. Now first, in IT, the LCD, the competition for LCD in IT is intensifying. And also, at the same time, the profitability is worsening. Then are there any plans for the company to downsize or even exit the LCD IT business as it has done so in the LCD TV? Or otherwise, what would be the strategy for the LCD IT business?
And then second, now there is also outlook for growing adoption of OLED in the IT market as well. And in response to this, the -- your peers in the market are now making investment into the 8.6 Gen OLED. So what is the company's preparation or what are the company's activities in order to be ready for this potential adoption growth of OLED in IT?
This is Hong-jae Shin, in charge of Medium Display Planning and Management. Now it is true that the medium product market remains overall sluggish, but then the company has been maintaining intense cost innovation activities. And as a result, we have been moving closer to our targeted performance, for example, making gradual improvement on our profitability, thanks to our focus on the high-end LCD technologies and differentiated competitiveness coming from OLED.
In LCD, we are maintaining profitability-centric business management by the select and focused approach centered on strategic customers. And utilizing the company's technological advantage and global customers' partnerships, we continue to maintain our business based on B2B and high-end lineups. While at the same time, downsizing the low-margin models and improving profitability and enhancing stability.
And for OLED, in particular, the company is providing various solutions to our customers based on the 2-track strategy of addressing new demand and preparing for future market. Now based on the company's differentiated competitiveness, we continue to respond to the growing demand of high-end monitors like gaming. And as a result, we are also seeing increase in the shipment of OLED panels for monitors.
Now in the notebook business, it is expected that there is going to be a gradual transition to OLED. But then the company believes that we need to see additional and clearer signs of the market size, transition speed as well as consumers' acceptance.
As such, the company remains closely watching the OLED notebook market size, while at the same time, we will be utilizing the existing infrastructure as much as possible for the technologies that can apply to future products. And by doing so, we will steadily make preparation for future technologies and mass production.
We will take one last question.
The last question will be presented by Won Suk Chung from iM Securities.
Now I have a simple question about the OLED TV. So the macro uncertainties continue and also there is growing competition with the LCD products. And then at the same time, there are also reports that a domestic TV set-top company is intending to expand its OLED lineup as well. So what is LG Display's strategy and mid- to long-term target for the OLED TV business?
This is Kim Yong Duck, in charge of Large Display Planning and Management. Yes, it is true that the uncertainties in the external environment and the business environment continue. But then for the company this year, we are projecting a mid-6 million unit level of large OLED panel shipment, which is growth Y-o-Y.
Now compared to the LCD, the unique value of OLED panel appears to be more and more recognized in the market. And also pricing is nearing the range of affordability, enhancing further its acceptability in the market. And as such, for next year, the company is looking forward to another growth expecting 7 million units.
And in particular, the gaming OLED monitor, so the demand for the gaming OLED monitor that is produced out of the large OLED fab is seeing meaningful growth. So for the large OLED panel, so we believe that the gaming OLED monitor out of the large OLED panel shipment, the share will be around low- to mid-teen percentage this year. The company continues to strengthen the fundamental competitiveness of OLED products as we also continue to diversify our product group. At the same time, we are maintaining very intense cost innovation activities and operational efficiency activities at the same time so as to continue to improve profitability of our large panel business.
Of course, I cannot mention the specific profitability of each business segment, but then the results of all these multifaceted efforts are coming together to make a bigger contribution to the overall business performance. But of course, external uncertainties persist and competition between the different products is also intensifying as evidenced by the launch of various products that are in direct competition with OLED.
So in response to these changes, the company will maintain our very strong cost innovation activities and also continue to build up our partnership with global top-tier customers so that we can maintain stable business performance.
And last, the company's OLED capacity is 180,000 for Generation 8, out of which we are currently utilizing 135,000 for mass production. And down the road, we intend to flexibly run the capacity in linkage to actual demand. And we also have sufficient infrastructure to flexibly respond to any additional growth in the market demand.
Thank you very much. This concludes LG Display's Q3 2025 earnings conference call. We thank everyone for joining us today. Should you have any additional questions, please contact the IR team. Thank you.
[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
Financial data from LG Display Co. ADR
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 18,953 18,953 |
4%
4%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 16,215 16,215 |
7%
7%
86%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 2,738 2,738 |
22%
22%
14%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 1,065 1,065 |
3%
3%
6%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | 1,037 1,037 |
5%
5%
5%
|
|
| EBITDA | 636 636 |
439%
439%
3%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 158 158 |
11%
11%
1%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 478 478 |
898%
898%
3%
|
|
| Net Profit | -1,013 -1,013 |
102%
102%
-5%
|
|
In millions USD.
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LG Display Co. ADR Stock News
Company Profile
LG Display Co., Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of thin film transistor and organic light-emitting diode display (OLED) products. Its products include television, commercial, monitor, notebook, mobile, auto, and OLED display. The company was founded on February 28, 1985 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | South Korea |
| CEO | Mr. Jung |
| Employees | 29,931 |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Website | www.lgdisplay.com |
