STX Engine (077970.KS) Q1 2026: Revenue Up 36%, Backlog Tops ₩2T as Margins Retreat
Defense and shipbuilding demand drove a 35.8% revenue surge, but euro-denominated input cost inflation compressed gross margin by 3.7 percentage points — and the record net profit jump owed more to a one-time financial restructuring benefit than to operational execution.
Source: Q1 2026 Quarterly Report (23rd Fiscal Year, January 1 – March 31, 2026) — Filed with DART | Consolidated Financial Statements | Unit: ₩ billions
STX Engine delivered consolidated revenue of ₩189.0 billion in the first quarter of 2026, a 35.8% year-on-year surge driven by simultaneous demand acceleration across defense propulsion and commercial marine engines. On the surface, net profit rising 59.0% to ₩16.7 billion and basic EPS of ₩415 look like a clean beat. Beneath those numbers the picture is more complicated: operating margin contracted from 11.1% to 9.3% as cost-of-goods-sold expanded 42.2%, outpacing revenue growth by more than six percentage points, and the net profit strength traced primarily to a ₩5.1 billion decline in finance costs following the company's 2025 convertible bond restructuring rather than improved operating efficiency. The quarter's most durable signal is not on the income statement at all — it is the ₩2.01 trillion order backlog, 20.3% above year-end 2025, which represents approximately 2.5 years of FY2025 revenue and anchors the medium-term earnings floor even as near-term margin headwinds persist.
