[Click eStock] "SK Telecom, Strong Profits and High Dividend Appeal"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] Cape Investment & Securities maintained a 'Buy' rating and a target price of 76,000 KRW for SK Telecom on the 31st.

SK Telecom recorded operating revenue of 4.2772 trillion KRW and operating profit of 432.4 billion KRW in the first quarter. This represents increases of 4% and 15.5%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Mobile communication sales grew by 2.2% during the same period due to an increase in 5G subscribers, and broadband sales also rose by 6.1% thanks to favorable net subscriber additions.

Researcher Park Hyungmin of Cape Investment & Securities analyzed, "Despite a one-time labor cost of 75 billion KRW reflected due to granting company shares to employees, marketing expenses and amortization decreased, contributing to profitability. Marketing expenses had increased during the early 5G adoption phase in 2019 due to excessive competition for subscriber acquisition, but as market competition stabilized, solid profitability was demonstrated."

This year, sales are expected to reach 17.3678 trillion KRW and operating profit 1.6316 trillion KRW, representing increases of 3.7% and 17.6%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Researcher Park said, "Wired and wireless communications saw a net increase of 1 million subscribers in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, solidifying SK Telecom's position as number one with a 47.6% market share of 5G subscribers. Additionally, enterprise sales centered on data centers and cloud grew by 17.4% during the same period, recording the highest growth rate among SK Telecom's five major business sectors. We expect solid performance to continue in the future, along with the appeal of high dividends."

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