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Major K-pop entertainment agency managing artists like NCT, aespa and EXO, now with Kakao as a key strategic shareholder.
Major K-pop entertainment agency managing artists like NCT, aespa and EXO, now with Kakao as a key strategic shareholder.
Earns from the artists it signs and trains: physical album sales, streaming rights, concert tours and merchandise, so each group's cycle of comebacks and tours carries a year. Kakao, the Korean internet group, became its largest shareholder in 2023 after a takeover contest with HYBE.
Moat: narrow (brand). Decades-old K-pop talent-development system, though HYBE and JYP compete hard for top artists.
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea · Founded: 1995 · Employees: 765
Size SM ENTERTAINMENT (041510.KS) is a South Korea Communication Services company (Movies/Entertainment) with a market value of $1.31B, the 193rd largest of 495 South Korea companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ₩77,800 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 19.5%, against +14.7% for the median peer and -24.5% for the South Korea market (cap-weighted) — 6th lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 9.7% over the last twelve months (peer median +3.0%); the operating margin is 14.1% (peer median 10.0%).
Valuation It trades at 15.5× forward earnings against a peer median of 22.1× (6th cheapest of 15).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -9% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +15%, so the hurdle is -24 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.1 points above its cost of capital (5.4% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 16 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ₩1.24T | ₩1.17T | ₩990B | ₩961B | ₩851B |
| Revenue growth | — | +19% | +3% | +13% | — |
| Gross profit | n/a | ₩407B | ₩280B | ₩315B | ₩270B |
| EBITDA | n/a | ₩249B | ₩147B | ₩171B | ₩152B |
| Net income | ₩90.8B | ₩347B | ₩18.3B | ₩87.3B | ₩80.0B |
| Free cash flow | n/a | ₩186B | ₩111B | ₩93.8B | ₩90.9B |
| Capital expenditure | n/a | ₩41.2B | ₩51.0B | ₩53.4B | ₩51.2B |
| Total debt | n/a | ₩98.0B | ₩102B | ₩145B | ₩107B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SM ENTERTAINMENT 041510.KS | $1.31B | -19% | +10% | 14% | 15.5× | -9.1% |
| HYBE 352820.KS | $4.65B | -44% | +65% | 4% | 53.3× | 19.5% |
| JYP Entertainment 035900.KS | $1.01B | -34% | +15% | 18% | 13.6× | -17.4% |
| YG Entertainment 122870.KS | $578M | -22% | +60% | 11% | 17.2× | -5.7% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 041510.KS | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -1.5% | +8.5% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -19.5% | +14.7% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -44.6% | -21.6% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +9.7% | +3.0% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 14.1% | 10.0% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 15.5× | 22.1× | 6th cheapest of 15 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -9.1% | 5.2% | 3rd least demanding of 17 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +15.2% | +19.7% | 5th lowest of 17 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -24.3 pp | -15.1 pp | 8th least demanding of 17 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +4.1 pp | -1.2 pp | 6th highest of 20 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SM ENTERTAINMENT 041510.KS | South Korea | $1.31B | -19% | +10% | 14% | 15.5× | -9.1% | +15.2% |
| Heiwa 6412.T | Japan | $1.32B | +16% | +47% | 16% | 10.2× | 4.1% | +19.1% |
| Saregama India SAREGAMA.NS | India | $1.26B | +77% | -3% | 28% | 46.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Cultural Investment 600715.SS | China | $1.43B | +15% | -27% | -44% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Tabcorp TAH.AX | Australia | $1.45B | +28% | 0% | 9% | 28.6× | 5.5% | +0.1% |
| Bona Film 001330.SZ | China | $1.17B | -25% | -29% | -34% | n/a | 24.0% | -4.9% |
| Compagnie des Alpes CDA.PA | France | $1.11B | -11% | +8% | 13% | 8.1× | 2.6% | +17.8% |
| Accel Entertainment ACEL | United States | $1.10B | +18% | +9% | 8% | 15.6× | 0.8% | +33.3% |
| Hengdian Entertainment 603103.SS | China | $1.62B | -18% | -27% | -10% | n/a | 36.1% | +18.3% |
| PVR Inox PVRINOX.NS | India | $1.63B | +47% | +14% | 16% | 28.7× | 15.7% | +88.3% |
| Tips Music TIPSMUSIC.NS | India | $1.04B | +20% | +27% | 67% | 39.6× | 36.6% | +32.9% |
| CA Cultural Technology 1566.HK | Hong Kong | $1.03B | +9,743% | -2% | 7% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shochiku 9601.T | Japan | $1.03B | +14% | +4% | 5% | 44.1× | 13.5% | +13.4% |
| Six Flags Entertainment FUN | United States | $1.02B | -55% | -3% | 11% | n/a | 5.4% | +76.4% |
| JYP Entertainment 035900.KS | South Korea | $1.01B | -34% | +15% | 18% | 13.6× | -17.4% | +41.6% |
| Damai Entertainment 1060.HK | Hong Kong | $1.74B | -25% | +22% | 6% | 13.9× | -9.1% | +22.0% |
| SJM 0880.HK | Hong Kong | $974M | -49% | -16% | 6% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| ZEAL Network TIMA.DE | Germany | $969M | -18% | +12% | 27% | 20.3× | -7.5% | +20.2% |
| EVT EVT.AX | Australia | $1.78B | +39% | +7% | 9% | 35.0× | 21.0% | +18.0% |
| United Parks & Resorts PRKS | United States | $1.81B | +2% | -4% | 21% | 11.4× | 0.2% | +30.9% |
| Fuji Kyuko 9010.T | Japan | $887M | +17% | +2% | 16% | 23.9× | 5.0% | +11.9% |