Korean Stock Picks (April 2025) - Emerging Market Skeptic

Many Korean stocks get overlooked by foreign investors, but that may soon change:

💻 FSS to Allow Foreigners to Invest in Korean Stocks Through Overseas Local Securities Firms (Douglas Research Insights) Apr 02, 2025 $

FSS announced that it will relax the requirements for opening a foreign integrated account to allow foreigners to more easily invest in Korean stocks through overseas local securities firms.

On 11 March, Interactive Brokers announced that it invested 15 billion won in Next Securities [Interactive Brokers Invests 15 Billion Won in Next Securities]. So far, IBKR has not formally announced that it will allow trading of Korean stocks.

We expect IBKR to allow trading of Korean stocks in 2025, mainly due to its investment in Next Securities and FSS’s announcement today on relaxation of opening foreign omnibus accounts.

And note the following potential political changes that might impact investing in Korean stocks:

💻 Lee Jae-Myung’s Campaign Pledge – Cancellation of Treasury Shares (Douglas Research Insights) Apr 23, 2025 $

Lee Jae-Myung (who is leading in most election polls) has mentioned cancellation of treasury shares as one of the key campaign pledges to improve the corporate governance in Korea.

If the cancellation of these shares becomes mandatory, the SK Group and Lotte Group will be most affected.

We provide a list of 21 stocks in KOSPI200 that have the highest ratios for treasury shares/total outstanding shares. These stocks could receive more attention in the next several months.

💻 Potential Change in Dividend Income Taxes in Korea – Will the Lawmakers Finally Make the Change? (Asian Dividend Stocks) Apr 24, 2025 $

There is an important potential change in dividend income taxes that may finally be passed into law in Korea.

The Democratic Party of Korea (led by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee So-Young) is pushing legislation to separate the taxation of dividends from comprehensive income for publicly listed companies.

Among the top 100 companies in KOSPI (by market cap), there are 21 companies with more than 35% estimated dividend payout in 2025, including SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM / KRX: 017670 / FRA: KMBA), POSCO Holdings (NYSE: PKX), and KT&G Corp (KRX: 033780).

💻 Lee Jae-Myung’s Policies Likely to Negatively Impact Korean Banks (Douglas Research Insights) Apr 23, 2025 $

Among the various industries, the banking sector could be negatively impacted if Lee Jae-Myung becomes the next President of Korea.

Lee Jae-Myung has pledged providing a “basic loan” of 10 million won per citizen which is likely to negatively impact the Korean banks since it lacks rigorous credit checks.

There is an increasing likelihood that Lee Jae-Myung could raise the pressure on local banks to share the responsibility of social policies by contributing more money to support them.

With that in mind, our Japan, Korea & Taiwan Stock Index already has 272 Korean stocks in the 🇰🇷 Korea section.

Korean stocks from a variety of research sources covered in the rest of this post for April (but with up-to-date charts and key data):

[Note: On desktop browsers, an autogenerated table of contents will appear on the left side linked to each stock. I will add those links below after publishing/emailing this post…]

KB Financial Group, Hanwha Aerospace, Woongjin Co Ltd, Krafton Inc, LG Energy Solution, i-SENS, HYBE, Hanwha Systems, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, F&F, LG H&H, S-Oil Corp, Hyundai Mobis, Samsung SDI, Shinhan Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Kia, Samsung Electronics, Kangwon Land, LG Display, Hanwha Ocean, iM Financial Group, LG CNS, Hyosung Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Mipo, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries, OCI Holdings, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Steel, POSCO Holdings, SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor, Hanwha Solutions, LG Electronics, SK Hynix, LG Innotek, POSCO International, Samsung E&A, Samsung Biologics, HD Hyundai Electric, Samsung C&T, LS Electric, KEPCO, HMM, Hyundai Marine & Fire, Samsung Life Insurance, Hyundai Rotem, Jeju Bank & Douzone Bizon, Coupang, KakaoBank, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, Dear U, GC Biopharma, Hugel, Hyundai Elevator, Hanssem, Cosmax, Kakao Corp, Hanmi Pharma, Dongwon F&B Co Ltd & Dongwon Industries, GS Engineering & Construction Corp, Daewoo E&C, Samsung E&A, SK IE Technology, DL E&C, DL Holdings, SK Inc, CJ Logistics, KT Corp, BGF Retail, HiteJinro Co Ltd & Hitejinro Holdings, Samsung SDS, SK Bioscience, Korean Air & Hanjin Kal, Kolmar Korea, KT&G, Grand Korea Leisure, LG Chem, APR, Lotte Tour Development, Hyundai Department Store, Hyundai Glovis, Hanwha Corporation, Kcc Corp & Paradise Co Ltd

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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Japan, Korea & Taiwan Stock Index

Frontier & Emerging Market Stock Index

KB Financial Group

💻 KB Financial: Q1 Net Profit And Updated Dividend Guidance Surpassed Expectations (Seeking Alpha) April 30, 2025 $ 🗃️

🔬 KB Financial Group (105560 KS/Buy) – Shorter interval between buybacks is positive (Mirae Asset Securities) 04.28.2025 ⚠️

🌏 KB Financial Group (NYSE: KB) – Financial holding company. Banking, credit card, financial investment, insurance business etc. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 0.61
Trailing P/E: 6.65 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 3.77% (Yahoo! Finance)

Hanwha Aerospace

💻 Hanwha Aerospace Rights Offering – Third Time Is a Charm? (Douglas Research Insights) April 30, 2025 $

🔬 Hanwha Aerospace (012450 KS/Buy) – Setting the stage for a quantum leap (Mirae Asset Securities) 04.11.2025 ⚠️

🔬 Hanwha Aerospace (012450 KS) – Bold corrective move to win back confidence (Daishin Securities) 11-04-2025 ⚠️

💻 Hanwha Aerospace – Lowers Rights Offering Capital Raise Amount To 2.3 Trillion Won (Douglas Research Insights) Apr 08, 2025 $

🌐 Hanwha Aerospace (KRX: 012450) – Formerly Samsung Precision. Subs. of Hanwha Group. Aerospace industrial company. Gas turbine engine manufacturer + development, production & maintenance of aircraft engines. 🇼 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 10.13
Trailing P/E: 17.42 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 0.41% (Yahoo! Finance)

Woongjin Co Ltd

💻 Woongjin Is Buying Preed Life (Largest Death Care Service Company in Korea) Using LBO (Douglas Research Insights) Apr 30, 2025 $

🌐 Woongjin Co Ltd (KRX: 016880) – IT services + IT consulting & outsourcing. 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 0.74
Trailing P/E: 1.63 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: N/A (Yahoo! Finance)

Krafton Inc

💻 Krafton: Acquisition of Controlling Stake in Neptune from Kakao Games (Douglas Research Insights) Apr 30, 2025 $

🔬 Krafton Inc (259960KS) – 1Q25 earnings beat led by record high sales and margin surprise (DBS Insights Direct) 30 Apr 2025 ⚠️

🔬 Krafton (259960 KS) – PUBG holds strong, new titles impress (Daishin Securities) 30-04-2025 ⚠️

🌐 Krafton (KRX: 259960) – Mobile game & application software. PC, mobile, console etc. + consulting advisory & investment services etc. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 2.40
Forward P/E: 17.83 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: N/A (Yahoo! Finance)

LG Energy Solution

🔬 LG Energy Solution (373220KS) – <Result Analysis>: 1Q25 earnings above expectations; anticipate earnings improvement in 2Q25. (DBS Insights Direct) 30 Apr 2025 ⚠️

🔬 LG Energy Solution (373220 KS/Buy) – Top-tier players to continue to outperform (Mirae Asset Securities) 04.09.2025 ⚠️

🌐 LG Energy Solution (KRX: 373220) – #1 EV battery manufacturer outside of China. Largest number of battery manufacturing facilities being constructed or operating in the US. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 3.04
Forward P/E: 131.58 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: N/A (Yahoo! Finance)