Korean Stock Picks (September 2024)

Korea Zinc, LIG Nex1 Co, Samyang Foods, SK Hynix, Meritz Financial Group, SK Telecom, Gravity Co, Shift Up Corp, Nexon Games, Kangwon Land, Chunbo, SK Inc, Hojeon, Ecopro HN, etc.

I am expanding and simplifying our Korean stock picks posts - Substack’s autogenerated post table of contents (the left side of desktop only browsers) is also helpful in making longer Substack posts easier to read (although it seems like I have to publish a post, then unpublish, then republish-email out.

However, I am only aware of Mirae Asset Securities (KRX: 006800 / KRX: 520003), the largest investment banking and stock brokerage company by market capitalization in South Korea, coming out with a steady stream of free Korean stock research (they did not publish too much for September).

Therefore, I have added some post titles from last month covered in our Monday posts (usually the lesser followed Korean stocks) together with a short description from our Japan, Korea & Taiwan Stock Index; links to an Wikipedia (🇼) entry and our tags (🏷️); the latest price/book, forward P/E, and forward dividend yield; and a long term technical chart.

Stocks covered:

Samsung Engineering, Kumyang Co Ltd, Korea Zinc, Young Poong Precision Corporation (Korea Zinc Affiliate), KEPCO Plant Service & Engineering Co Ltd, LIG Nex1 Co, Samyang Foods Co Ltd, SK Biopharmaceuticals, SK Hynix, Meritz Financial Group, Celltrion, SK Telecom, Gravity Co Ltd, Shift Up Corp, Nexon Games, Hanwha Galleria, Kangwon Land, Chunbo Co Ltd, Samsung C&T Corp, SK Inc, Hojeon Ltd, Ecopro HN, Hanmi Pharma & Samsung Securities

Others, its worth noting that the foreign investor herd chasing the China stimulus rally appear to have taken some of their money out of Korea to fund those purchases:

📰 Overseas investors dump highest amount of Korean stocks since August 2021 (October 2024) The Korea Times

Foreign investors unloaded more than 7 trillion won ($5.46 billion) worth of Korean stocks last month, driven by the global economic uncertainties that have accelerated the exodus of offshore investors.

And a quick value-up update:

Banking, telecom stocks suffer declines over exclusion from Value-up Index (Korea Times) September 2024

• Several stocks in the banking and telecom sectors that were considered strong candidates for inclusion in the Corporate Value-up Index declined Wednesday after failing to make the list.

• The Korea Exchange announced the list of 100 companies included in the Corporate Value-up Index the day before. The index is part of government-led initiatives to revamp the stagnated stock market by improving corporate governance.

• Initially, most banking stocks were expected to be included, given the industry's active value-up announcements. However, only Shinhan Financial Group (KRX: 055550) and Woori Financial Group (NYSE: WF) were selected.

And as always, this post is provided for informational purposes only (and to make your life easier…). It does not constitute investment advice and/or a recommendation…

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🔬 Research analysis (including articles/blog posts from fund managers, etc.); 🎥 Video; 🎙️ Podcast; 🎬 Webinar; 📰 Newspaper/magazine article; 📯 Press release; 💻 Substack/blog/website article; ✅ Our own posts; 🗃️ Archived article; ⏰ Upcoming webinar or event; ⚠️ Disclosures or restricted access e.g. based on your location, investor status, etc.; 🇼 Wikipedia page; 🏷️ Tagged links to other posts about the stock.

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Samsung Engineering

🔬 Samsung E&A (028050 KS/Buy) - Ample upside to shares following pullback (Mirae Asset Securities) 09.30.2024 ⚠️

• 🌐 Samsung Engineering (KRX: 028050) - Specialized EPC company. Plant industry (Oil & Gas processing, Refinery, Petrochemical, Industrial, Environmental, BIO & Green Solution areas). 🇼 🏷️

• Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 1.01

• Trailing P/E: 5.47 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: N/A (Yahoo! Finance)

Kumyang Co Ltd

💻 Kumyang's Capital Raise Drop: Breaking It Down from an Arb Trading Play (Smartkarma) 28 Sep 2024 $

💻 Kum Yang: Rights Offering Capital Raise of 450 Billion Won (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 28, 2024 $

• 🌐 Kumyang Co Ltd (KRX: 001570) - Chemical materials (secondary cylindrical battery cell, chemical blowing agents, etc.). 🏷️

• Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 17.41

• Trailing P/E: 162.61 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: N/A (Yahoo! Finance)

Korea Zinc

Note: Bain joins battle for control of world’s biggest zinc smelter (FT) $ 🗃️ - Big commodities groups watching outcome as founding families vie for Korea Zinc (KRX: 010130)

💻 MBK Raises Tender Offer Price on Korea Zinc by 13.6% to 750,000 Won (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 26, 2024 $

💻 What Are Locals Saying About Potential Allies to Choi Family in Fight for Korea Zinc? (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 24, 2024 $

💻 Details of MBK's Four Major Concerns on Management of Korea Zinc (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 21, 2024 $

💻 Korea Investment Securities to Step up as the White Knight for Choi Family at Korea Zinc (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 20, 2024 $

💻 MBK Partners and Jang Family Partner to Control Korea Zinc + Tender Offer of 14.6% of Korea Zinc (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 13, 2024 $

• 🌐 Korea Zinc (KRX: 010130) - Exploring overseas resources & discovering new rare metals + smelting-related industries &resource recycling business. 🇼🏷️

• Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 1.72

• Trailing P/E: 30.27 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 1.85% (Yahoo! Finance)

Young Poong Precision Corporation (Korea Zinc Affiliate)

💻 NAV Valuation of Young Poong Precision and A Case Study for Future Tender Offers in Korea (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 18, 2024 $

💻 NAV Analysis of Young Poong and Three Potential Scenarios of Choi Family's Strategy to Fight Back (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 14, 2024 $

💻 Tender Offer of 43.4% Stake in Young Poong Precision by MBK (Douglas Research Insights) Sep 13, 2024 $

• 🌐 Young Poong Precision Corporation (KOSDAQ: 036560) - Industrial pumps, valves, automation, fluid handling equipment, etc. Affiliate of Korea Zinc (KRX: 010130). 🇼 🏷️

• Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 1.36

• Trailing P/E: 18.19 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: N/A (Yahoo! Finance)

KEPCO Plant Service & Engineering Co Ltd

🔬 KEPCO KPS (051600 KS/Buy) - At the forefront of the nuclear revival (Mirae Asset Securities) 09.25.2024 ⚠️

• 🌐 KEPCO Plant Service & Engineering Co Ltd (KRX: 051600) - total plant solutions (plant facility diagnosis & performance improvement, O&M, newable EPC, industrial facilities & power transmission & substations. 🇼 🏷️

• Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 1.60

• Trailing P/E: 11.26 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 4.82% (Yahoo! Finance)