[Featured Stock] KT Attracts Attention as a High Dividend Stock with Strong Profit Growth '52-Week High'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] KT set a new 52-week high on the 31st. It recorded the highest price of 38,500 won in the early trading session.

As of 9:25 a.m., the stock price is at 38,200 won, up 1.33%. The market is interpreted to be focusing on KT's performance and growth potential.

On the same day, Cape Investment & Securities maintained a 'Buy' rating on KT, expecting strong profits in both its core business and new ventures, and raised the target price to 45,000 won.

Researcher Park Hyung-min said, "KT's operating revenue in the first quarter increased by 4.1% year-on-year to 6.2777 trillion won, and operating profit rose by 41.4% to 626.6 billion won. Even excluding the one-time gain of 74.6 billion won related to real estate sales, the operating profit stands at around 550 billion won, marking the highest quarterly operating profit since 2013."

He added, "The steady increase in the proportion of 5G subscribers and the resulting rise in ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), along with continued marketing cost efficiency, will sustain the TELCO profit growth trend. In B2B, high growth rates are confirmed, centered on AI (Artificial Intelligence) and cloud/IDC (Internet Data Center) businesses."

Researcher Park also stated, "KT's dividend policy is to pay 50% of the separate adjusted net income, and the dividend yield for 2022 is expected to be around 6%. There is an appeal of high dividends based on stable profit generation."

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