Mirae Asset Securities' Korean Stock Picks (May 2024)
Cafe24 Corp, Hyundai Livart Furniture, Lotte Energy Materials Corp, GS Retail, Lotte Chemical, Lotte Rental, SK Telecom, Ecopro BM, BGF Retail, Korea Aerospace Industries, Hanwha Aerospace, etc.
Mirae Asset Securities (KRX: 006800 / 520003 / 00680K) is the largest investment banking and stock brokerage company by market capitalization in South Korea. They come out with (and post on their website) a steady stream of free research pieces - namely about Korean stock picks.
Stocks covered by their research during the month of May and (in the order they covered them from the most recent to the earliest in the month) in this post include:
Legochem Biosciences; DB HiTek Co Ltd; SK Inc; Chunbo Co Ltd; W-Scope Chungju Plant Co Ltd; People & Technology; Youngone Corp; Cafe24 Corp; Hanwha Solutions; Ray Co Ltd; SK Oceanplant Co Ltd; Dio Corp; Seegene; Hyundai Livart Furniture Co Ltd; HMM; SK Hynix; Samsung Electronics; Fila Holdings Corp; Cosmax Inc; Pan Ocean; SOCAR; Neowiz; InBody; Classys; ST Pharm; LG Uplus; JYP Entertainment Corp; Hanssem Co Ltd; L&F Co Ltd; Lotte Energy Materials Corp; CJ Logistics; CS Wind Corp; NAVER; Dentium; PearlAbyss Corp; NCSoft Corp; Vatech; i-SENS; Koh Young Technology; GS Retail; Hyundai Department Store Co Ltd; Kakao; SK Biopharmaceuticals; Lotte Chemical; Lotte Rental; SK Telecom; Kakao Games; SM Entertainment Co Ltd; Shinsegae Inc; Korean Air; Krafton; Wemade; Vieworks; JejuAir Co Ltd; Joy City Corp; Amorepacific Corp; Kumho Petrochemical; SKC; Ecopro BM Co Ltd; BH Co Ltd; HYBE; BGF Retail; DL E&C Co Ltd; LX International; Korea Aerospace Industries; Hanwha Aerospace; LIG Nex1 Co; HanAll Biopharma; Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co Ltd; Yuhan Corp; Doosan Fuel Cell; Hyundai AutoEver; LG Chem; OCI Holdings; Samsung SDI; Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co Ltd; S-Oil Corp; & SK Innovation
It was recently reported that Korea will remain classified as an emerging market for the time being:
📰 What MSCI’s assessment means for South Korea (Korean Herald)
South Korea again failed to obtain the reclassification of its stock market as a developed market by global index provider MSCI after the country reimposed a full ban on stock short selling, which overshadowed positive assessment among foreign investors of the country’s efforts to lower the barrier for access to financial markets here.
📰 MSCI maintains status quo on Korea, will study country's reforms (Business Standard)
Reclassification would have channelled billions of dollars of foreign investments into South Korea. Interestingly, it would have also benefited other EMs like India and China. Korea’s exclusion from the EM Index would have led to distribution of its weightage among existing members. Currently, South Korea has a weightage of close to 13 per cent in the MSCI EM index. China (with a weightage of 29.2 per cent) has the biggest weightage in the index followed by Taiwan (16.18 per cent) and India (14.34 per cent).
Korea remaining an “emerging market” is probably a good thing for investors. As explained in the past, classifying the country as a developed country will only benefit the biggest Korean stocks to the detriment of smaller cap Korean stocks who would be removed from the indices.
Finally, I also need to point out that the Korean Won is not as stable against the dollar as the Singapore dollar, Taiwan dollar, and Hong Kong dollar (pegged to the dollar) are:
That does not mean its not worth looking at South Korean stocks…
Mirae Asset Securities publishes their Korean stock pick research in English. Note that when I click on their website, I receive NO pop-up asking what sort of investor I am or my location; but there is this disclaimer at the end of each of the research report PDF files:
This post will NOT be quoting directly from the website or research documents themselves (beyond giving the title of the report - please keep the above disclosures in mind).
However, their summaries and the more detailed research contained in the PDF files do NOT include good long term technical charts, descriptions of what the company does or links to the stock pick’s IR page, current quote, or most recent statistics - all pet peeves of mine when not made available.
To make your life easier, this post includes:
A heading with the stock name.
A quick description of the stock pick with links to the IR page and stock quote(s) on Yahoo! Finance.
A link to any Wikipedia page (for what it might be worth…)
The title of the report linked to the short summary brief on the Mirae Asset Securities website.
The link to the Mirae Asset Securities research report PDF file about the stock pick.
A price/book (most recent quarter) ratio plus forward or trailing P/E and dividend yields linked back to the Yahoo! Finance statistics page.
The latest long term technical chart linked back to Yahoo! Finance.
And as always, this post is provided for informational purposes only (and again, to make your life easier…). It does not constitute investment advice and/or a recommendation…
Keep in mind that Mirae Asset Securities would more or less be doing sell side research (with all the usual conflicts of interest that can arise from doing that) and you probably will never or rarely see a sell recommendation from them - just like you almost never see a sell recommendation coming from Wall Street…
But their equity research comes with good stock financials and it’s in English (as again, many Korean stocks still do not have IR pages or financial reports in English) - meaning its a good starting point for anyone interested in investing directly in Korean stocks.
Legochem Biosciences
Legochem Biosciences (KOSDAQ: 141080) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative medicines by leveraging their medicinal chemistry expertise to make conventional biologics more targeted and potent for the benefit of patients with diseases of highly unmet medical needs. They are advancing sustainable pipelines in therapeutic areas within antibiotics, anti-fibrotics, oncology, and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) platform technology.
LegoChem Biosciences (141080 KQ/Buy/Initiate) - Swinging to profitability
Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 4.15
Forward P/E: N/A / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: N/A (Yahoo! Finance)
DB HiTek Co Ltd
DB HiTek Co Ltd (KRX: 000990) ranks today as one of the top ten foundries in the semiconductor industry. Operating from two world class wafer fabrication facilities and leveraging key technology achievements spanning two decades, the company continues to meet the needs of fabless ventures around the globe.
DB HiTek pursues a “collaborate and thrive” growth strategy. Accordingly, the company continues to maintain close relations with customers and has put in place an advanced business model that adds higher value to its products and services.
Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 1.19
Trailing P/E: 8.92 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 1.16% (Yahoo! Finance)
SK Inc
SK Inc (KRX: 034730) is involved in advanced materials, energy, life sciences and biopharmaceuticals, and digital businesses.
SK Inc. (034730 KS/Buy) - Key drivers: Semiconductors, energy, and shareholder returns
Price/Book (Most Recent Quarter): 0.40
Trailing P/E: 3.11 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 3.22% (Yahoo! Finance)
