ABL Bio is a drug developer that, rather than selling finished medicines, creates drug candidates with two of its own antibody platforms, licenses them out to global pharmaceutical companies and earns the resulting payments. Its core assets are “Grabody-B,” a shuttle technology that carries drugs into the brain (with ABL301 licensed to Sanofi), and “Grabody-T,” a bispecific antibody that rouses immune cells to attack cancer; through its U.S. subsidiary NEOX Bio it also directly runs bispecific-antibody ADC trials. In November 2025 it licensed Grabody-B to Eli Lilly in a deal worth up to US$2.602 billion (US$40 million upfront) and received an equity investment, and in March 2026 it invested an additional roughly US$25 million into NEOX Bio to advance bispecific-antibody ADC trials on its own. The strengths worth noting are that Sanofi and Lilly buying its core platforms externally validated its technological competitiveness, and low borrowings plus upfront cash inflows increased its cash cushion; the cautions are that revenue swings with contract timing so quarterly results vary widely, and its own drugs are still in clinical stages, so the valuation is sensitive to follow-on milestones and clinical progress.
At-a-glance assessment financial health · growth · profitability · valuation
- The most recent full-year net result was a loss.
- Revenue rose 137.5% year over year, and the pace is quickening (3-year trend: mixed).
- Most recent quarter (Q1 2026) revenue was 506.8% higher than a year earlier.
- ROE is -24.4% (controlling-interest basis). It is below the sector average.
- Operating margin is -50.9%.
- P/E is hard to compute here, so this is read on P/B.
Ownership & governance As of 2025-12-31
Largest shareholder Lee Sang-hun 23.02% (individual)
Controlling bloc incl. related parties 24.9%
With the controlling bloc holding 25%, control is maintained but the free float is relatively large.
🔎 In-depth analysis
- ABL Bio is not a company that makes and sells finished drugs; it is a drug developer that creates candidates with two of its own antibody platforms, hands over the rights to global pharmaceutical companies (out-licensing) and earns payments in return.
- It has two core assets.
- One is “Grabody-B,” a shuttle technology that carries drugs into the brain past the barrier that protects it (the blood-brain barrier) (with the Parkinson's-disease candidate ABL301 licensed to Sanofi); the other is “Grabody-T,” a bispecific-antibody technology that rouses immune cells to attack cancer.
- Because revenue comes not from product sales but from upfront payments and development-milestone payments, its size varies by quarter, and through its U.S. subsidiary NEOX Bio (about 95% owned) it also directly runs trials of the bispecific-antibody ADC (a method that attaches a drug to an antibody to deliver it straight to cancer cells) candidates ABL206 and ABL209.
- The latest close is ₩80,500 and the market cap is ₩4.5 trillion.
- The price sits below the 20-day line (₩95,675) and below the 60-day line (₩117,248).
- Trading below both the short- and mid-term moving averages, the trend is on the soft side.
- The RSI (an indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 36.5, a neutral level.
- The one-month change is -10.8%, the three-month change is -47.7%, and the price sits -67.2% below its 52-week high.
- Relative strength versus the KOSDAQ is 68 (on a 1-99 scale, converting the past year's return against the index with more weight on recent performance; higher means stronger than the market).
- That places it in roughly the top 32% of all stocks by strength.
- Over the past three months it lagged the index by 30.2%.
- Chart reading is best done together with volume and disclosure dates.
- Because net profit is in the red, the P/E ratio (how many times one year of profit the price represents) cannot be calculated.
- The P/B (how many times shareholders' equity the price represents) is 29.13x, above the sector median, but this company's value lies not in book equity but in intangibles — its platforms and pipeline — so it is hard to call it expensive on P/B alone.
- ROE (how much is earned in a year on equity) is -24.4% and the operating margin is -50.9%, still a loss-making structure, but this reflects the cost structure of a year without large contract payments.
- The debt ratio (debt against equity) is 80.3%, so the borrowing burden is not heavy, and with a current ratio of 1.43x its short-term funding situation is fairly stable.
- The key point is that, more than the trailing (already-confirmed past) loss figures, this is a business model in which profit and loss can change greatly in a year when the next-stage payments of a licensing deal are recognized.
- Over five years, revenue swung widely — ₩5.3 billion in 2021, ₩67.3 billion in 2022, ₩65.5 billion in 2023, ₩33.4 billion in 2024 and ₩79.3 billion in 2025.
- This is not because the business wavered but because of the gap between years when upfront and milestone payments arrived and years when they did not, a natural pattern for a drug out-licensing company.
- 2025 revenue rose 137.5% from the prior year in another sharp recovery, and Q1 2026 revenue was ₩13.1 billion, up 506.8% from the same period a year earlier.
- Operating profit and loss remained negative — ₩-40.4 billion in 2025 and ₩-17.2 billion in Q1 2026 — but this reflects R&D spending to advance its own drugs into clinical stages.
- Future profit and loss will be determined by when and how much the next-stage payments of the Lilly and Sanofi deals are recognized and by clinical progress of its own pipeline, so it is right to view empty periods and filling periods of revenue together.
- The company's official profit outlook for this year could not be confirmed, so it is more accurate to track progress in contract stages than to cite a specific annual number.
- To understand this year's flow, one must start from last November's event.
- In November 2025 the company licensed the Grabody-B platform to Eli Lilly in a deal worth up to US$2.602 billion (US$40 million upfront) and agreed to receive a US$15 million equity investment, sending the share price surging.
- Then in March 2026 it invested an additional roughly US$25 million into its U.S. subsidiary NEOX Bio to advance the bispecific-antibody ADC (ABL206, ABL209) trials on its own (disclosed as a subsidiary rights offering and acquisition of another company's shares), in May confirmed Q1 results in the quarterly report, and in June filed an IND amendment to broaden the Phase 1 trial of the immuno-oncology bispecific antibody ABL503 into a combination regimen.
- Since a large upfront payment is booked all at once in the year received, the key to reading the business flow is tracking whether the next-stage payments and trials actually follow, rather than any single piece of good news.
- The strengths are clear.
- Global pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi and Lilly buying its core platforms is a signal that its technological competitiveness has been validated externally, its borrowing burden is low, and upfront cash inflows have increased its cash cushion.
- Holding two of its own proprietary antibody technologies (Grabody-B and Grabody-T) opens paths to build value both through follow-on out-licensing and through its own drugs.
- The points to weigh are equally clear.
- Revenue swings with contract timing so quarterly results vary widely, and its own drugs are still in clinical stages, so the timing of a swing to profit is not set.
- The P/B of 36.73x looking high is due to the structure in which intangible value is hard to capture on the books, and does not itself signal risk.
- In sum, this is a stock sensitive to stage progress: strong in phases where follow-on milestones and clinical progress are confirmed and the platform value comes to the fore, and marked by losses and earnings volatility in phases where that momentum is absent.
🔎 Valuation vs peers Overvalued
Peers with the same business substance were prioritized. LigaChem Biosciences is the closest — like ABL Bio, a loss-making, R&D-stage company that out-licenses its own antibody/ADC platforms to global pharmaceutical companies and receives payments. Samsung Biologics and Celltrion are already profitable large-cap CDMO and biosimilar companies whose very way of earning money differs, so they serve only as auxiliary comparisons for a sense of scale.
| Peer | P/E | P/B | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|
| LigaChem Biosciences | — | 8.62x | -18.04% |
| Samsung Biologics | 34.37x | 8.23x | 23.95% |
| Celltrion | 37.26x | 2.23x | 5.98% |
(a) Even against the closest peer, LigaChem Biosciences' P/B of 10.94x, ABL Bio's P/B of 36.73x is much higher, placing it where expectations for the platform are most heavily reflected relative to assets. (b) The profitable large caps — Samsung Biologics (P/B 8.67, ROE 23.9%) and Celltrion (P/B 2.25, ROE 6.0%) — already earn profits while ABL Bio is loss-making, so rather than grouping them by the same yardstick it is better to view ABL Bio as carrying a technology premium. (c) That said, because of the net loss there is no trailing P/E, and profit and loss shift sharply in years when large contract payments arrive, so it is hard to conclude it is expensive on last year's confirmed results alone; the current price is justified only when the forward basis of follow-on milestones and clinical progress supports it. Taken together, expectations run ahead relative to assets and earnings, so we view it as “Overvalued,” but the assessment can change quickly depending on whether those expectations are realized.
Price history Close · MA20 · MA60
The latest close is ₩80,500 and the market capitalization is ₩4.5 trillion. The price sits below its 20-day moving average (₩95,675) and below its 60-day moving average (₩117,248). 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 36.5, a neutral level. The one-month change is -10.8%, the three-month change is -47.7%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -67.2%. Relative strength versus the KOSDAQ is 68 (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 68% of all stocks. Over the past three months it lagged the index by 30.2%. 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 -30.24% / 6M -51.78% / 12M +13.77%
Key metrics vs sector median
Valuation
A net loss makes the P/E an unreliable valuation gauge. The P/B of 29.13x is above the sector median (1.37x).
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 -24.4%, below the sector average (3.0%). The operating margin is -50.9%. The debt ratio is 80.3%, so the financial structure is stable.
Growth FY2025 · annual report (consolidated)
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $43.4M | $22.1M | $52.6M | +137.55% ↑ faster |
| Operating profit | -$1.7M | -$39.4M | -$26.8M | — |
| Net profit | -$1.8M | -$36.8M | -$25.1M | — |
| 5-year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.5M | $44.6M | $43.4M | $22.1M | $52.6M |
| Operating profit | -$34.7M | $601,798 | -$1.7M | -$39.4M | -$26.8M |
| Net profit | -$28.9M | $2.1M | -$1.8M | -$36.8M | -$25.1M |
| Revenue CAGR | 4-yr avg 96.41% | ||||
Revenue rose 137.5% year over year (2023 ₩65.5 billion → 2024 ₩33.4 billion → 2025 ₩79.3 billion), and the three-year trend is 'mixed'. The pace of growth also quickened from the prior year. Operating results are in the red, so a swing back to profit matters more than the growth rate here. Over the 5 years on record, revenue compound annual growth (CAGR) is 96.4%. The two-year revenue CAGR is 10.0%. In the most recent quarter (Q1 2026), revenue was 506.8% higher than the same period a year earlier.
Latest quarterly results Q1 2026 · vs year-ago
Technical indicators
What stands out
- Revenue grew 137.5% year over year, a sign of growth.
Points to watch
- The most recent full year was a loss, so it is worth checking whether profitability recovers.
- The price is high versus peers, so expectations already appear priced in.
Recent news & events searched · sourced
- 2025-11-14UpdateGrabody-B platform out-licensing agreement with Eli Lilly (up to US$2.602 billion, US$40 million upfront) and a US$15 million equity investmentNear term: the direct trigger for last November's share-price surge, through the large upfront inflow and a re-valuation of the platform. Medium term: since the upfront is a one-time recognition, whether follow-on development-stage milestones continue is key to the durability of profit and loss. Source
- 2026-03-30FilingDecision to invest in a rights offering (about US$25 million) of U.S. subsidiary NEOX Bio and acquire another company's shares — funding trials of bispecific-antibody ADCs ABL206 and ABL209Near term: a signal that it is deploying its own funds into the subsidiary's ADC pipeline trials. Medium term: rising R&D spending weighs on near-term profit and loss but is an investment that builds the value of its own drug assets. Source
- 2026-05-08EarningsQuarterly report (2026.03) — Q1 revenue ₩13.1 billion, operating loss confirmedNear term: revenue rose sharply year on year, but the operating loss continued. Medium term: reconfirms a business model with large quarterly variation depending on when contract payments are recognized. Source
- 2026-06-09FilingApplication to amend the Phase 1 trial plan (IND) of the immuno-oncology bispecific antibody ABL503 — expansion into a combination regimen with a PD-1 inhibitorNear term: expanding the trial design of its own cancer candidate suggests development progress. Medium term: the success or failure of the combination data connects directly to the value of its own pipeline. Source
Figure cross-check computed ↔ external
| Metric | Computed | External | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lilly out-licensing size and upfront payment | 26200 / approx. 4,000 | 26200 / approx. 4,000 + 1,500 | Confirmed | link |
| Q1 2026 revenue (cumulative) | ₩13.1 billion | (2026.03) | Confirmed | link |
| Subsidiary NEOX Bio investment decision | approx. 2,500 | — | Confirmed | link |
| 2026 full-year revenue (seasonality approximation) | approx. ₩44.7 billion | — | Unverified | link |
Recent filings
- 2026-06-09Amended filing
- 2026-06-04Disclosure
- 2026-05-08PeriodicQuarterly report
- 2026-04-03OwnershipOwnership-change filing
- 2026-04-01OwnershipOwnership-change filing
- 2026-03-30Paid-in capital increase
- 2026-03-30Disclosure
- 2026-03-27Disclosure
- 2026-03-27Disclosure
- 2026-03-27Shareholders' meeting notice
- 2026-03-12Disclosure
- 2026-03-12Shareholders' meeting notice
📖 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.