[Click eStock] "Korea Financial Group, Synergy from Diversifying Revenue Sources and Rising KakaoBank Equity Value"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] SK Securities maintained its 'Buy' rating and target price of 104,000 KRW for Korea Financial Group, citing its diversified revenue sources, strong IB competitiveness, and the rising corporate value of KakaoBank.

On the 8th, SK Securities forecasted that Korea Financial Group's 2021 net income attributable to controlling shareholders will increase by 15% to 815 billion KRW compared to this year. Despite a decline in commission fees from consignment, the increase in IB and asset management fees, along with the normalization of securities management performance, are expected to drive growth. This year’s net income attributable to controlling shareholders is expected to decrease by 16% to 710 billion KRW compared to the previous year. However, this is attributed to a base effect from the exceptionally strong performance last year and losses from ELS hedge operations in Q1.

The investment points for Korea Financial Group were summarized into four main aspects. Researcher Koo Kyung-hoe explained, "Due to diversified revenue sources, high IB competitiveness, excellent long-term performance, and the rising corporate value of KakaoBank, Korea Financial Group’s earnings are expected to show stable growth even if stock market trading volumes decline in the future."

Researcher Koo added, "We assumed KakaoBank’s corporate value at 10 trillion KRW and applied an additional 50% discount for its unlisted status in the target price. Recently, KakaoBank conducted a 1 trillion KRW capital increase, recognizing a corporate value of 9.3 trillion KRW." He continued, "Korea Financial Group’s 33% stake in KakaoBank is valued at 3.1 trillion KRW based on the capital increase price," maintaining the target price at 104,000 KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.