E-Mart is Korea's largest hypermarket chain, centered on a standalone business that sells food and household goods cheaply and in volume through its discount stores and its Traders warehouse format, wrapped inside a retail conglomerate that also owns SCK Company (which operates Starbucks), Shinsegae Property (developer of the Starfield malls), Chosun Hotel, SSG.com, and Shinsegae E&C. In the first quarter of 2026 standalone gross revenue reached ₩4.7152 trillion and consolidated operating profit hit its highest level in 14 years, confirming a recovery in the core business, while the company is carrying out a higher minimum dividend (₩2,000 to ₩2,500) and an annual cancellation of 280,000 treasury shares. What stands out lately is that, factoring in the recovering core profitability, its strong subsidiaries, and its nationwide real estate, the shares sit in undervalued (NAV) territory relative to net assets; on the other side, the ROE of 1.2% points to thin margins, the debt ratio of 304.6% carries a heavy interest burden, and net profit can swing quarter to quarter with subsidiary results and one-off items.
At-a-glance assessment financial health · growth · profitability · valuation
- Debt far exceeds equity (debt ratio 304.6%).
- Assets that can be turned to cash within a year fall short of near-term liabilities (current ratio 61.9%).
- Operating profit barely covers the interest bill (interest coverage below 1x).
- Revenue fell 0.2% year over year (3-year trend: falling).
- Net profit swung from a loss a year earlier back into the black (a turnaround).
- Most recent quarter (Q1 2026) revenue was 1.3% lower than a year earlier.
- ROE is 1.2% (controlling-interest basis). It is below the sector average.
- Operating margin is 1.1%.
- P/B is low versus peers too, so it looks cheap on an asset basis as well.
Ownership & governance As of 2025-12-31
Largest shareholder Chung Yong-jin 28.85% (individual)
Controlling bloc incl. related parties 28.85%
With the controlling bloc holding 29%, control is maintained but the free float is relatively large.
🔎 In-depth analysis
- E-Mart is Korea's largest hypermarket chain.
- It makes money in three broad ways.
- First is the standalone business (E-Mart proper), which generates revenue by selling food and household goods cheaply and in volume through its discount stores (hypermarkets) and its Traders warehouse format.
- In the first quarter of 2026 standalone gross revenue was ₩4.7152 trillion, within which the discount stores contributed ₩3.0078 trillion and Traders led the profit growth.
- Second is the subsidiary business, which includes SCK Company (which operates Starbucks; Q1 2026 revenue ₩817.9 billion, operating profit ₩35.1 billion), Shinsegae Property (developer and operator of the Starfield complex malls; 2025 operating profit ₩174.0 billion), Chosun Hotel & Resort, and the loss-narrowing e-commerce arm SSG.com and convenience-store chain E-Mart24.
- Third is Shinsegae E&C (a wholly owned subsidiary), which handles the group's construction.
- In other words, this is not just a supermarket operator but a retail conglomerate built around hypermarkets and spanning coffee, complex malls, hotels, and construction.
- The latest close is ₩79,600 and the market cap is ₩2.2 trillion.
- The price sits below its 20-day line (₩84,180) and below its 60-day line (₩93,740).
- Trading below both the short- and medium-term moving averages, the trend looks subdued.
- The RSI (an auxiliary gauge that weighs upward against downward momentum over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 37.7, a neutral level.
- The one-month change is -9.0%, the three-month change is -13.7%, and the position versus the 52-week high is -37.6%.
- Relative strength against the KOSPI is 25 (1-99, computed from returns versus the index over the past year with recent performance weighted more heavily; higher means stronger than the market).
- That places it in roughly the top 75% of all stocks by strength.
- Over the past three months it lagged the index by 31.6%.
- Chart reading is best done alongside trading volume and disclosure dates.
- The P/E (how many times one year's earnings the price represents) is 16.13x and the P/B (how many times the company's net assets the price represents) is 0.20x.
- A P/B of 0.21x means the market is valuing the company at one-fifth of its book net assets (equity of about ₩11 trillion).
- But that book value itself understates the real worth - Starbucks-related stakes, Starfield land and buildings, and the land under discount-store outlets nationwide are mostly recorded at historical cost, so on a market basis the real asset value is larger than book.
- So a P/B of 0.21x points to a state even more undervalued than it appears.
- Profitability metrics are still low: the ROE (how much is earned in a year on equity) is 1.2% and the operating margin is 1.1%, both thin.
- The debt ratio (debt against equity) is 304.6%, which is high, though that is somewhat natural for a retail-and-property conglomerate carrying large real estate and subsidiaries, even as it drives an interest-cost burden.
- The dividend yield is 3.0% (₩2,500 per share), a stable level.
- For reference, last year's (2025) net profit of ₩136.2 billion was the first year of turning to profit from a large 2024 loss (-₩590.0 billion), so rather than reading the 16.7x P/E at this point as simply expensive, it is more accurate to read it as a figure at an inflection point where earnings are still recovering.
- Revenue has been stuck around ₩29 trillion for five years with little change (₩28.97 trillion in 2025, -0.2% year on year).
- The real story of growth lies not in revenue but in the earnings recovery.
- Operating profit rebounded sharply from a loss of -₩46.9 billion in 2023 to ₩47.1 billion in 2024 and ₩322.5 billion in 2025 (+584.8% year on year), and net profit swung from a -₩590.0 billion loss in 2024 to a +₩136.2 billion profit in 2025.
- This trend continued into the first quarter of 2026, with consolidated operating profit of ₩178.3 billion (+11.9% year on year), the highest first-quarter figure in 14 years since 2012, while standalone operating profit was the highest in eight years.
- The drivers are improved core profitability (pricing competitiveness from integrated purchasing, store renewals), solid growth at Traders (Q1 operating profit +12.4%) and Starbucks (revenue +7.3%), and narrower losses at SSG.com and E-Mart24.
- If core recovery and subsidiary earnings improvement continue through the rest of this year, the company's real picture on an earnings basis is better than last year's confirmed results - measured against this year's expected earnings, the burden is lower than the multiple that appears on the surface.
- The central narrative in recent disclosures is shareholder returns and governance cleanup.
- Under its value-up plan, the company is raising the minimum dividend for 2025-2027 from ₩2,000 to ₩2,500 per share and carrying out an annual cancellation of 280,000 treasury shares (more than 2% of shares outstanding, 560,000 in total) across 2025-2026.
- The return funding is set at 20% of standalone operating profit, with the minimum dividend guaranteed if that falls short.
- In June 2026 a material-event report (amended) on treasury-share disposal was filed, and dividends and cancellations are being executed as planned.
- The company is also folding Shinsegae E&C into a wholly owned subsidiary to clean up the group builder's loss burden, alongside regular quarterly and business-report filings.
- The results announcement (Q1 consolidated operating profit at a 14-year high) was the event that confirmed the core recovery in numbers.
- The points to watch are clear.
- On the strength side, core profitability is genuinely recovering (Q1 operating profit at a 14-year high), the company holds strong subsidiaries such as Starbucks, Starfield, and Traders along with nationwide real estate, and the shares trade at about one-fifth of net assets, so viewed by asset value (NAV) rather than earnings they sit in undervalued territory.
- Shareholder returns are also institutionalized through dividends and treasury-share cancellations.
- On the cautious side, margins are still thin (ROE 1.2%) and the debt ratio of 304.6% is high, so interest costs eat into profit, and net profit can swing quarter to quarter with subsidiary results and one-off items (Q1 net profit fell 5.0% year on year despite the operating-profit gain).
- In sum, looking only at the absolute size of supermarket earnings the picture looks ordinary, but by the market value of its assets this is a heavily discounted stock - strong when core recovery and asset re-valuation proceed together, weak when a consumption slowdown and interest-cost burden overlap.
🔎 Valuation vs peers Undervalued
Domestic large-format offline retailers (hypermarkets and convenience stores) as the peer set, though because E-Mart has a large real-estate and subsidiary component, an asset-value view is more valid than treating it as a pure retail stock.
| Peer | P/E | P/B | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lotte Shopping | 86.91x | 0.30x | 0.34% |
| BGF Retail | 10.64x | 1.58x | 14.87% |
| GS Retail | 48.12x | 0.64x | 1.32% |
(a) Position versus peers: among Lotte Shopping (P/B 0.34), GS Retail (0.6), and BGF Retail (1.52), E-Mart's P/B of 0.21x is the lowest. (b) Premium/discount: it is at a large discount to net assets, and even that book net asset is understated because the Starbucks stake, Starfield land, and the like are recorded at low historical cost - so the real discount is larger than the surface P/B suggests. (c) The trailing P/E of 16.7x is calculated on the first year of turning to profit from a large 2024 loss, which carries the usual limits of an earnings inflection point, and on a forward basis reflecting the 2026 recovery in the core and subsidiaries the burden is lower than the surface multiple. On earnings alone it looks ordinary, but by the market value of its assets it sits in undervalued territory.
Price history Close · MA20 · MA60
The latest close is ₩79,600 and the market capitalization is ₩2.2 trillion. The price sits below its 20-day moving average (₩84,180) and below its 60-day moving average (₩93,740). It is under both its short- and medium-term moving averages, so the trend looks subdued. The RSI (a supplementary indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 37.7, a neutral level. The one-month change is -9.0%, the three-month change is -13.7%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -37.6%. Relative strength versus the KOSPI is 25 (on a 1-99 scale, converted from returns against the index over the past year with more weight on recent performance; higher means stronger than the market). It is stronger than roughly 25% of all stocks. Over the past three months it lagged the index by 31.6%. Chart interpretation is best done alongside trading volume and the dates on which disclosures occur.
Relative performance stock vs index · start = 100
Excess return vs index · 3M -31.59% / 6M -40.77% / 12M -63.69%
Key metrics vs sector median
Valuation
The P/E of 16.13x is in line with the sector median (16.77x). The P/B of 0.20x is below the sector median (0.56x).
Enterprise value (EV)
EV = market cap + net debt. It reflects cash and debt, so it captures the real cost of the whole business that market cap alone misses; lower multiples are cheaper relative to earnings or sales.
Profitability & financials
Return on equity (ROE) is 1.2%, below the sector average (3.0%). The operating margin is 1.1%. The debt ratio is 304.6%, so the financial structure is somewhat high.
Growth FY2025 · annual report (consolidated)
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $19.5B | $19.2B | $19.2B | -0.17% ↑ faster |
| Operating profit | -$31.1M | $31.2M | $213.8M | +584.83% |
| Net profit | -$59.0M | -$391.0M | $90.3M | — |
| 5-year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $16.5B | $19.4B | $19.5B | $19.2B | $19.2B |
| Operating profit | $210.0M | $89.9M | -$31.1M | $31.2M | $213.8M |
| Net profit | $1.0B | $682.2M | -$59.0M | -$391.0M | $90.3M |
| Revenue CAGR | 4-yr avg 3.82% | ||||
Revenue fell 0.2% year over year (2023 ₩29.5 trillion → 2024 ₩29.0 trillion → 2025 ₩29.0 trillion), and the three-year trend is 'falling'. That said, the rate of decline narrowed from the prior year. Operating profit rose 584.8% year over year. Over the 5 years on record, revenue compound annual growth (CAGR) is 3.8%. The two-year revenue CAGR is -0.9%. In the most recent quarter (Q1 2026), revenue was 1.3% lower than the same period a year earlier.
Latest quarterly results Q1 2026 · vs year-ago
Technical indicators
What stands out
- P/E and P/B are both low versus peers, so the price looks inexpensive relative to earnings and assets.
- The dividend yield, at 3.1%, is on the high side.
Points to watch
- Debt far exceeds equity (debt ratio 304.6%).
- Assets that can be turned to cash within a year fall short of near-term liabilities (current ratio 61.9%).
- Revenue fell 0.2% year over year (3-year trend: falling).
Recent news & events searched · sourced
- 2026-05-13EarningsQ1 2026 consolidated operating profit of ₩178.3 billion (+11.9% year on year), the highest first-quarter figure in 14 years since 2012. Standalone operating profit was the highest in eight years, and revenue was ₩7.1234 trillion (-1.3%).Confirms the recovery in core profitability in numbers. A signal of qualitative growth - earnings improvement amid flat revenue - and a key basis from a medium-term perspective. Source
- 2026-06-08FilingMaterial-event report (treasury-share disposal decision), amended. Executed as part of the treasury-share cancellation and disposal program under the value-up plan.Enhances shareholder value by reducing shares outstanding. An extension of the planned annual cancellation of 280,000 shares. Source
- 2026-02-11DividendValue-up plan: 2025-2027 minimum dividend of ₩2,500 per share, return funding at 20% of standalone operating profit, and annual cancellation of 280,000 treasury shares in 2025-2026 (560,000 in total, more than 2% of shares outstanding).Institutionalizes dividends and cancellations to improve predictability. A stable return policy grounded in a 3.0% dividend yield. Source
- 2026-02-11Earnings2025 consolidated net revenue of ₩28.9704 trillion (-0.2%) and consolidated operating profit of ₩322.5 billion (+584.8% year on year), a clear recovery to profit from a large loss.Confirms the earnings inflection through joint improvement in the core and subsidiaries. Entering a normalization track off the low base of the 2024 loss. Source
Figure cross-check computed ↔ external
| Metric | Computed | External | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 consolidated operating profit | ₩322.5 billion | ₩322.5 billion | Confirmed | link |
| Q1 2026 consolidated operating profit | ₩178.3 billion | ₩178.3 billion | Confirmed | link |
| Minimum dividend (DPS) | ₩2,500 | ₩2,500 | Confirmed | link |
| 2026 expected net profit (forward) | approx. ₩170.0 billion(self-estimate) | — | Unverified | link |
Recent filings
- 2026-06-08TreasuryMaterial-fact report (amended)
- 2026-06-04Disclosure
- 2026-06-04Disclosure
- 2026-06-01Large-business-group status disclosure
- 2026-05-29Corporate governance report
- 2026-05-21Material-fact report (amended)
- 2026-05-21Amended filing
- 2026-05-21Amended filing
- 2026-05-14Disclosure
- 2026-05-14Disclosure
- 2026-05-14Disclosure
- 2026-05-14Disclosure
📖 Plain-language glossary — expand if you are new to this
- P/E
- How many times a year's net profit the price is worth (lower is cheaper relative to earnings). The P/E here is on trailing (last full-year) results; for companies whose earnings swing fast (memory chips and other cyclicals/high-growth), a forward P/E on this year's expected earnings is more accurate.
- P/B
- Price relative to net assets (equity). Around 1x means it trades near book value; below 1x means below book.
- P/S
- Price relative to a year's revenue — useful for growth companies with thin earnings.
- Net debt / EV
- Net debt = interest-bearing debt − cash. Negative means more cash than debt (net cash). EV (enterprise value) = market cap + net debt, closer to what it would cost to buy the whole business.
- EV/EBIT · EV/EBITDA · EV/Sales
- Enterprise value against operating profit (EBIT), EBITDA, or revenue. Unlike P/E these reflect debt and cash; lower is cheaper relative to earnings power or sales.
- FCF / FCF yield
- Free cash flow = operating cash − capex, the cash actually left over. FCF yield = FCF ÷ market cap; higher means more cash generated per unit of market value.
- Intrinsic value (DCF)
- Future free cash flow (or, for some capex-heavy but profitable names, forecast earnings) discounted to today to estimate per-share value. Because it shifts a lot with the discount-rate and growth assumptions, it is shown as a bear/base/bull range, and the basis and assumptions are disclosed in one line beneath it.
- ROE
- How much profit the company earns in a year on its equity (%). Higher means better returns on capital.
- EPS / BPS
- Earnings per share / net assets (book value) per share.
- Operating / net margin
- Profit left from the core business / final profit after tax and interest, per unit of revenue.
- Debt ratio
- Debt relative to equity (%). Higher means more reliance on borrowing (norms vary by sector).
- Current ratio
- Assets convertible to cash within a year against debt due within a year. Above 100% leaves some short-term headroom.
- Interest coverage
- How many times operating profit covers the interest owed. Below 1x means operating profit alone struggles to cover interest.
- Dividend yield / payout ratio
- The year's dividend as a % of today's price / the share of earnings paid out as dividends.
- Revenue CAGR
- Multi-year growth expressed as a single yearly average (compound annual growth rate).
- RSI (short-term signal)
- Whether recent price action is overheated or beaten down. Above 70 is overbought, below 30 oversold.
- MA20 / MA60 (moving averages)
- The 20- and 60-day average price. Price above them signals a firmer short-term trend.
- vs 52-week high
- How far below the past year's peak the price sits now (%).
All figures are for reference only; how they read varies by sector and over time.
Sources: Korea FSC market-price API (data.go.kr), OpenDART, KRX/KIND — public data only.
Bong Stocks presents public-data-based information for reference only. It is not investment advice and contains no target prices, ratings, or buy/sell recommendations. Verify independently before making any decision.