2018. 7. 13 Company Studio Dragon (253450) Update Earnings to follow production costs ● The first and second episode of Studio Dragon’s tentpole drama Mr. Sunshine got a viewership rating of 8.9% and 9.7%, respectively, the highest ever for a tvN drama. ● The company’s 2Q earnings will likely fall just short of consensus, but we believe that its progress in enhancing content quality has been outstanding. ● We hike our target price to KRW140,000. With the global OTT market still in its infancy, Studio Dragon’s production costs should rise over the mid- to long term. WHAT’S THE STORY? Mr. Sunshine off to good start: The first and second episode of Mr. Sunshine aired Seungwoo Yang , CFA on July 7 and 8, respectively, logging viewership ratings of 8.9% and 9.7%, the highest Analyst ever for a tvN drama (the previous highest figures went to Goblin—6.3% for the first [email protected] episode and 7.9% for the second). While we should continue monitoring the trend, the 822 2020 7813 initial ratings for Studio Dragon’s second tentpole drama of 2018 are impressive. According to the media, the weekend drama’s total production costs reached KRW40b, and the drama should prove a massive commercial success thanks to: 1) Netflix buying global copyrights to the drama; and 2) lofty weekend primetime ad slot prices (KRW18.4m, which exceeds that charged by terrestrial broadcasters). 2Q preview: Our estimates have the company’s 2Q operating profit rising 1.4% y-y to KRW9.3b, just shy of consensus (KRW10.3b) due to an absence of tentpole dramas (ie , AT A GLANCE insignificant overseas sales; excludes the sale of Live copyright to Netflix). Nonetheless, strong viewership ratings for its dramas have highlighted the firm’s progress in enhancing content quality. My Mister and What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim (both are broadcast on Wednesdays and Thursdays) have secured high viewership ratings, while Lawless Lawyer Target price KRW140,000 (16.9%) and Mr. Sunshine (both are aired on Saturdays and Sundays) have made a big splash. Current price KRW119,800 Raising target to KRW140,000: We revise up our 12-month target price by 40% to Market cap KRW3.4t/USD3.0b KRW140,000 though the current price looks somewhat demanding. Its per-episode Shares (float) 28,037,240 (23.9%) production costs recently surged to KRW1.7b (vs KRW300m-500m, previously) on: 1) 52 -week high/low KRW119,800/KRW57,800 greater demand from Netflix for Korean content; and 2) the growing potential of the Avg daily trading KRW18.9b/ global OTT market (which includes China). Its present market cap (KRW3t) is justified by value (60-day) USD16.8m an average production cost of KRW1.2b/episode. Considering that US content production ONE-YEAR PERFORMANCE costs exceeds KRW4b on average per episode, we believe that Studio Dragon’s production costs will rise over the mid- to long term, buoying its earnings. 1M 6M 12M • Studio Dragon (%) 9.0 74.9 n/a Upside momentum: The popularity of Mr. Sunshine, the conclusion of a production Vs Kosdaq (%pts) 16.4 86.4 n/a contract for Netflix Original Series dramas in 2H18, and the signing of contracts with Chinese OTT operators KEY CHANGES • Downside risks: Delays in content production/signing supply contracts, and the (KRW) New Old Diff falling valuation of growth stocks Recommend. BUY BUY Target price 140,000 100,000 40.0% SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA 2018E EPS 1,441 1,582 -8.9% 2019E EPS 2,391 2,406 -0.6% 2017 2018E 2019E 2020E Revenue (KRWb) 287 378 499 640 SAMSUNG vs THE STREET Net profit (adj) (KRWb) 24 40 67 93 No of estimates 11 EPS (adj) (KRW) 1,050 1,441 2,391 3,324 Target price 126,182 EPS (adj) growth (% y-y) 84.5 37.2 65.9 39.0 Recommendation 3.9 EBITDA margin (%) 25.9 30.2 34.6 35.8 ROE (%) 9.5 10.4 15.2 17.8 BUY ★★★ : 5 / BUY: 4 / HOLD: 3 / SELL: 2 / SELL ★★★ : 1 P/E (adj) (x) 114.1 83.1 50.1 36.0 P/B (x) 9.1 8.2 7.1 5.9 EV/EBITDA (x) 42.8 27.5 17.8 12.9 Dividend yield (%) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Source: Company data, Samsung Securities estimates Studio Dragon 2018. 7. 13 Chart 1. Tentpole drama viewership ratings Chart 2. CJ ENM: Prime-time unit ad price (%) (KRWm) 20 18 16.4 New Journey Mr. Sunshine First episode 15.1 18 to the West 16 A Korean Second episode 16 14 Goblin Odyssey 14 12 Reply 9.7 12 1988 Live 10 8.9 7.9 10 Stranger 8 6.3 8 5.3 6 4.8 6 4 4 2 2 0 0 Mr. Sunshine Goblin (tvN) A Korean Legend of the 2015 2016 2017 2018 (tvN) Odyssey (tvN) Blue Sea (SBS) Sat Sun Source: AGB Nielson Media Research Source: Company data Chart 3. tvN: Wednesday and Thursday drama ratings Chart 4. tvN: Weekend drama ratings (%) (%) 9 What's Wrong with Secretary Kim 12 Mr. Sunshine 8.4 Jul-Sep 2018 8 Jun-Jul 2018 Lawless Lawyer 7.4 10 7 My Mister 9.7 May-Jul 2018 Mar-May 2018 8.9 6 8 7.7 5 5.0 6.9 6 4 3 4 Mother 2 Jan-Mar 2018 Live A Korean Odyssey 2 Mar-May 2018 Dec 2017-Mar 2018 1 (Episode number) (Episode number) 0 0 1 6 11 16 1 7 13 19 Source: AGB Nielson Media Research Source: AGB Nielson Media Research Table 1. Netflix original series production costs Orange (USDm) House of Cards Marco Polo Sense8 The Get Down The Crown Is the New Black Cost per season 60 50 90 108 120 130 Cost per episode 4.6 3.8 9.0 9.0 10.9 13.0 Year 2013- 2013- 2014-2016 2015-2018 2016-2017 2016- Source: Local media, Samsung Securities 2 Studio Dragon 2018. 7. 13 Revising up target to KRW140,000 Uncertainties The biggest challenge in our target price calculation is forecasting the degree of earnings that regarding overseas overseas copyright sales will bring in. We believe that Studio Dragon’s global copyright sales to copyright sales Netflix will drive up its production costs, which should prove to be the greatest source of earnings growth momentum. Mr. Sunshine’s total production costs reached a reported KRW40b or KRW1.7b per episode, far higher than its past average of KRW300m-500m/episode but still below the figures at its US and Chinese peers. If the company starts supplying dramas to Chinese OTT operators, its production costs could climb further. Production cost s to rise Based on long-term assumptions—of a P/E of 20x, a net margin of 15%, and production of 40 over mid- to long term dramas pa —Studio Dragon’s current market cap would imply a per-drama production cost of KRW20b. This would be below its assumed 3Q18 figure (of KRW13b, which includes Mr. Sunshine), but should prove easily attainable, as: 1) the company’s tentpole drama production costs are trending upwards; and 2) the firm may come to produce more dramas as Netflix Original Series. Our new target price of KRW140,000 is based on a production cost assumption of KRW23b per drama and KRW100b per tentpole drama (see table 3). Table 2. Target price calculation (KRWb) Current Target 2016 2017 2018E 2019E Note Share-price (KRW) 119,800 140,000 Market cap 3,359 3,925 Net profit 168 196 13 24 40 67 Market cap /A Sales 1,120 1,308 196 287 378 499 Net profit/B Per-drama sales 28 33 10.3 12.9 15.1 17.1 Sales/C Per-drama 20 23 7.8 9.5 10.8 11.7 Per-drama sales*D production cost Per-episode Per-drama 1.2 1.4 0.48 0.59 0.67 0.73 production cost production cost/E <Assumptions> Target P/E (x) 20 20 264.6 140.9 83.0 50.0 A Net margin (%) 15.0 15.0 6.5 8.3 10.7 13.5 B Number of dramas 40 40 19 22 25 29 C Weight of 70.0 70.0 75.4 73.1 71.3 68.4 D production cost (%) Number of episodes in 16 16 16 16 16 16 E a drama Source: Samsung Securities estimates Table 3. Production cost estimates Table 4. Co-production discussions with global firms Number of Average Total (KRWb) Company Plans dramas production cost production cost Amazon Distribute dramas in Japan Tentpole 6 100 600 Signed co-production MOU General 34 10 323 Warner Bros. Co-produce global dramas Total 40 23 923 Distribute new dramas Source: Samsung Securities Netflix Co-produce global dramas AMC (US) Co-produce global dramas ITV (UK) Co-produce global dramas Source: Company data 3 Studio Dragon 2018. 7. 13 Table 5. Results and forecasts (KRWb) 2017 2018E 2019E 1Q17 2Q17 3Q17 4Q17 1Q18 2Q18E 3Q18E 4Q18E 1Q19E 2Q19E 3Q19E 4Q19E Sales 287 378 499 75 62 77 72 80 64 115 119 119 123 127 130 Broadcasting 131 155 209 26 24 42 39 41 27 41 46 49 51 53 55 Copyright sales 112 193 256 36 26 23 26 32 29 67 65 61 64 65 66 Other 44 30 34 13 12 12 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 Cost of goods sold 240 307 390 59 50 67 64 66 51 94 97 92 96 99 103 Production 210 269 341 49 42 60 58 59 44 81 85 80 84 87 90 Commission 17 29 38 5 4 3 4 5 4 10 10 9 10 10 10 Other 13 9 10 4 3 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 Gross profit 47 70 109 17 12 11 7 14 13 21 22 27 27 28 27 SG&A 14 17 20 3 3 4 4 3 4 5 5 4 5 6 6 Operating profit 33 54 89 14 9 7 3 11 9 17 17 23 23 22 21 Pre-tax profit 30 54 90 13 9 6 2 11 9 17 17 23 23 22 21 Net profit 24 40 67 13 3 6 2 8 7 13 13 17 17 17 16 Adjusted EPS (KRW) 1050 1,441 2,391 Margins (%) Operating margin 11.5 14.2 17.9 18.5 14.3 8.6 4.8 13.4 14.6 14.4 14.5 19.4 18.4 17.4 16.4 Pre-tax margin 10.6 14.3 18.0 17.6 14.5 8.2 2.3 13.5 14.7 14.5 14.5 19.5 18.5 17.5 16.5 Net margin 8.3 10.7 13.5 17.8 4.5 7.3 2.8 9.9 11.0 10.9 10.9 14.6 13.9 13.1 12.4 Source: Company data, Samsung Securities estimates 4 Studio Dragon 2018.