PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩0 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Sands Lab is expanding SI-driven revenue on top of its cyber threat intelligence (CTI) technology base, but quarter-to-quarter earnings remain volatile and a stable profit structure has not yet been established.
2025 consolidated revenue rose to KRW 11.6 billion year over year, with both operating loss and net loss narrowing.
Q4 2025 posted a quarterly operating profit on KRW 6.4 billion in revenue, but Q1–Q2 2026 swung back into losses.
The SI business now accounts for most revenue, while the share of CTI product sales has been on a declining trend, indicating a shift in business mix.
The company is expanding new product lines, including its 'FakeCheck' deepfake detection service and an agent-based upgrade to its 'MNX' NDR solution.
The company disclosed a 2026 value-up plan targeting technology competitiveness and continued shareholder returns including dividends.
Sands Lab was founded in 2004 as SaintSecurity and renamed in 2021, listing on KOSDAQ in February 2023 under the technology special listing track.
Its core competency is cyber threat intelligence (CTI) technology that automatically analyzes malware and other cyber threat data using AI and big data, delivered through its proprietary CTX platform to a range of industries at home and abroad.
The product lineup includes MDX, MNX, and MAX, and the company recently introduced an agent-based architecture for its AI-driven network detection and response (NDR) solution 'MNX,' integrating threat intelligence and account-leak alert services.
To counter generative-AI misuse, it launched a deepfake detection service called 'FakeCheck,' broadening its AI security portfolio alongside personal-data leak alert services.
However, looking at the revenue mix, the SI (systems integration) business now accounts for most sales, while the share of CTI product revenue — the company's core technology identity — has been on a declining trend.
Its customer base centers on public institutions and the financial sector, where security requirements are stringent, and it holds a security function verification certificate that meets public-sector adoption requirements.
Competitively, it is often grouped with other KOSDAQ security names such as Monitorapp, Hansack, Securesen, and Raonsecure, whose share prices frequently move together on policy-driven themes rather than purely company-specific factors.
The company's registered address is listed at K-Sign's headquarters building, pointing to an affiliate-style linkage that warrants attention for any future impact on the financial statements.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩3.7B | -₩1.4B | −37.9% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩800M | -₩1.5B | −181.0% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩6.4B | ₩2.5B | 39.7% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩1.8B | -₩1B | −55.2% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩1.5B | -₩900M | −56.0% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩9.3B | ₩2.1B | ₩2.2B | 22.5% | 107.8% | 389.2% |
| 2023 | ₩11.7B | -₩900M | ₩400M | −7.5% | 1.1% | 14.1% |
| 2024 | ₩8.3B | -₩3.7B | -₩2.3B | −44.7% | −4.8% | 5.7% |
| 2025 | ₩11.6B | -₩1.8B | -₩500M | −15.2% | −1.0% | 6.9% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-23
Consolidated revenue in 2025 came in at KRW 11.61 billion, up from KRW 8.30 billion the prior year, while the operating loss narrowed sharply to KRW 1.77 billion from KRW 3.71 billion, and the net loss attributable to owners shrank to KRW 550 million from roughly KRW 2.30 billion.
The company attributed part of the improvement to the first-time application of consolidated accounting from 2025, and indeed the 2025 consolidated statements show non-controlling interests (KRW 251 million) appearing for the first time, confirming a change in the scope of consolidation.
Quarterly results show substantial swings. Q3 2025 was weak, with revenue of just KRW 802 million, an operating loss of KRW 1.45 billion, and a net loss of KRW 911 million, before Q4 2025 revenue jumped to KRW 6.39 billion, delivering a quarterly operating profit of KRW 2.53 billion and net profit of KRW 1.49 billion.
That fourth-quarter rebound was the main driver behind the full-year loss reduction. The trend reversed again in 2026, however, with Q1 revenue of KRW 1.83 billion and an operating loss of KRW 1.01 billion, followed by Q2 revenue of KRW 1.55 billion and an operating loss of KRW 866 million.
Notably, the Q2 2026 net loss widened to KRW 1.83 billion, far exceeding the operating loss, suggesting non-operating items had a meaningful impact on the bottom line.
Compared with 2022, when the company posted an operating profit of roughly KRW 2.09 billion on KRW 9.3 billion of revenue, operating losses have persisted for most of the period since listing, underscoring a structural challenge in converting revenue growth into stable profitability.
Korea's cybersecurity market continues to see structural demand drivers from the transition to the National Network Security Framework (N2SF) in public institutions and finance, layered with new threat-response needs arising from AI proliferation.
Growing social concern over deepfakes and generative-AI misuse has kept related regulatory legislation under discussion, which carries potential to translate into demand for services such as deepfake detection and account-leak alerts.
However, such policy- and issue-driven demand can see delayed monetization depending on budget cycles and legislative timelines.
The network detection and response (NDR) market is cited globally as a double-digit growth segment, and Sands Lab is attempting to differentiate itself by combining its threat intelligence datasets with this market.
Competitively, smaller domestic security names such as Monitorapp, Hansack, Securesen, and Raonsecure tend to move together on similar policy themes, meaning sector-wide flows and momentum affect share prices alongside company-specific technology.
Sands Lab is noted for holding one of the largest security datasets in Asia, which is cited as a mid-to-long-term differentiator as this data feeds into AI security model development.
That said, in terms of market position it remains a smaller-scale player relative to larger security vendors and SI conglomerates, operating within a mix of competitive and cooperative relationships with them.
Sands Lab disclosed a 2026 value-up plan targeting technology competitiveness, profit-focused management, stronger R&D capabilities, and continued shareholder-return policies including dividends.
The company is classified as a high-dividend firm under the Special Tax Treatment Control Act; its 2025 payout ratio was recorded at 25%, and the 2025 year-end dividend was resolved at KRW 150 per share, totaling roughly KRW 2.29 billion.
On the product side, it continues upgrading its 'MNX' NDR solution with an agent-based architecture that combines threat intelligence and account-leak alerts, aligned with public-sector adoption requirements, and has added quantum-resistant cryptography checks to prepare for a future shift to quantum security.
Its deepfake detection service 'FakeCheck' is cited as a new revenue source addressing social demand around generative-AI misuse.
Q1 2026 results showed year-over-year improvement — revenue up 155.9%, operating loss down 30.3%, and net loss down 58.9% — though Q2 saw the net loss widen again, underscoring that quarter-to-quarter variability remains significant.
The company continued marketing and sales activities, including participation in the February 2026 eGISEC security exhibition to promote its CTX service, and going forward, the extent to which CTI product revenue recovers relative to SI-dependent sales will be a key indicator of qualitative improvement in the business structure.
Sands Lab has yet to reach a stretch of stable profitability, making straightforward application of earnings-based valuation metrics difficult.
On an asset basis, the market appears to assign some premium relative to net asset value, which can be interpreted as partly reflecting growth expectations tied to its CTI and AI security business lines.
On the dividend front, the company is classified as a high-dividend firm and has paid a year-end dividend in recent years, though the absolute payout size remains modest, making it more meaningful to watch the continuity of shareholder-return policy than to simply compare yield levels against sector averages.
Since the company has not yet strung together four consecutive profitable quarters, valuation may be more sensitive to the pace of any recovery in CTI product revenue and the monetization of new services than to trailing results.
Ultimately, assessing the current trading level requires weighing both the direction of earnings recovery and the structural shift away from SI-dependent revenue.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-08-23
Consolidated revenue rose year over year in 2025, with both operating and net losses narrowing. Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 each showed a quarterly operating profit or a sharp reduction in losses, indicating room for profitability improvement during periods of concentrated revenue recognition.
Several new products are entering commercialization simultaneously, raising the potential for revenue diversification.
Ongoing legislative and policy discussion around the National Network Security Framework transition and responses to deepfake and generative-AI misuse are sustaining structural security demand in the public and financial sectors.
The company has exposure to these trends through its deepfake detection service and an NDR solution that meets public-sector adoption requirements, though the timing of policy demand converting into actual revenue depends on budget and legislative schedules.
The company is classified as a high-dividend firm and paid a year-end dividend for 2025, and its 2026 value-up plan explicitly commits to continued shareholder-return policies including dividends. This signals an intent to maintain shareholder returns even at a growth stage where profit scale remains modest.
Quarterly results have swung sharply — from a weak Q3 2025 to a profitable Q4, then back to losses in Q1–Q2 2026. Notably, the Q2 2026 net loss expanded far beyond the operating loss, suggesting a significant non-operating impact. This volatility makes it difficult to read a clear trend from any single quarter.
While the SI business accounts for most revenue, the share of CTI product sales — the company's core technology identity — has been declining. This suggests growing reliance on relatively lower-margin SI revenue. Without a recovery in CTI product sales, the sustainability of any profitability improvement remains uncertain.
As a small-cap KOSDAQ security stock, shares tend to move sharply in tandem with other security names on policy news such as deepfake-related legislation. This theme-driven trading can amplify short-term volatility disconnected from company-specific fundamentals.
It is also worth noting that the company has recorded operating losses for most of the period since its listing.
Quarterly revenue and earnings swings are substantial, and the company has never strung together four consecutive profitable quarters, making earnings trends difficult to project. If cases like Q2 2026 — where net loss expanded well beyond the operating loss — recur, concerns over financial stability could grow.
A substantial portion of revenue depends on the SI business, which can make results highly sensitive to individual project wins. New service demand tied to policy and regulatory issues is subject to legislative and budget timelines, creating risk that monetization could be delayed.
The company's registered address at K-Sign's headquarters building points to an affiliate-style linkage, meaning any change in ownership or transactional relationships could affect future financial statements and governance.
Given limited liquidity typical of a small-cap stock, events such as changes in major shareholder stakes can have a relatively outsized impact on the share price.
The Q3 2026 quarterly report is due — worth checking whether the improvement seen in Q1 and the setback in Q2 continue or reverse in Q3.
Watch for disclosures of public-sector contract wins tied to the National Network Security Framework transition, to gauge whether policy demand is converting into actual revenue.
A preliminary disclosure of a 30%-plus change in 2026 full-year revenue or earnings structure is typically expected around this time, allowing a check on whether the 2025 loss-narrowing trend continued into 2026.
The 2026 year-end dividend decision, payout ratio, and progress on the value-up plan are expected to be reported, offering a check on the continuity of shareholder-return policy.
Sands Lab is a KOSDAQ-listed security firm that has expanded SI-driven revenue on top of its core CTI technology, and 2025 showed an improving trend with revenue growth alongside narrowing operating and net losses.
However, results swung back into losses in Q1–Q2 2026 after a profitable Q4, and the Q2 net loss expanding well beyond the operating loss confirms that earnings volatility remains significant.
In terms of revenue mix, dependence on the SI segment is rising while the share of CTI product sales — the company's technological identity — is trending down, making the direction of this business-mix shift worth monitoring.
New services such as deepfake detection and an upgraded NDR offering align with policy-driven demand, a positive factor, though the timing of monetization can depend on legislative and budget schedules.
The company has disclosed continued commitment to shareholder-return policies, including dividends, as a high-dividend firm, but it has yet to string together four consecutive profitable quarters, meaning further confirmation of earnings stability is still needed.
On balance, this is a stock where signs of revenue recovery and new-business expansion coexist with the challenges of quarterly earnings volatility and deepening reliance on the SI business.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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