[Featured Stock] Digital Daesung Jumps on Spotlight from 5-Year Average Increase of 668 Medical School Seats...Hits 52-Week High

원본보기 아이콘

Digital Daesung, an education content platform company, has emerged as a key beneficiary stock following the government's announcement to expand medical school enrollment quotas, setting a new 52-week high.

As of 3:14 p.m. on February 11, Digital Daesung was trading at 8,670 won, up 1.29% from the previous day. During the session, it climbed to 8,710 won, renewing its 52-week high.

On February 10, the Ministry of Health and Welfare decided at the 7th Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee meeting to increase medical school enrollment quotas by an annual average of 668 students for five years from the 2027 to the 2031 academic years. Specifically, the plan is to add 490 students in the 2027 academic year, 613 students in each of the 2028 and 2029 academic years, and 813 students per year from the 2030 academic year onward, gradually expanding the scale of the increase. This expansion will focus on 32 medical schools outside Seoul, and students will be selected mainly through regional physician tracks and similar schemes.

With the government announcing its policy to expand medical school quotas, the market is viewing Digital Daesung as the most direct beneficiary stock. Digital Daesung has already significantly strengthened its dominance in the medical school entrance exam market by acquiring Hobup Gangnam Daesung Boarding Academy, which operates the Gangnam Daesung Medical Boarding Center, last year.

In particular, the Gangnam Daesung Medical Boarding Center has already responded preemptively to surging demand for medical school entrance preparation by expanding its capacity by about 40%, from 840 to around 1,200 students through building extensions. Digital Daesung plans to continue its "quantum jump" in 2026 by maximizing synergies between the solid growth of its online segment, including Daesung MyMac, and its offline integrated repeaters' boarding academies, thereby achieving record-high sales and profitability.

Alongside its steep earnings growth, Digital Daesung's aggressive shareholder-friendly measures are also serving as a catalyst for the share price rise. On February 2, the company announced that it is planning a record-high year-end dividend for the previous fiscal year of 520 won per share (corresponding to a dividend yield of about 6.50%). In particular, the introduction this year of separate taxation benefits for dividend income from high-dividend listed companies further enhances shareholders' after-tax returns, adding to the stock's investment appeal.

Digital Daesung CEO Kim Heesun said, "The government's latest policy to expand medical school quotas will be a powerful momentum that re-highlights the value of Digital Daesung's unparalleled medical school entrance infrastructure and educational capabilities, which we secured in advance," adding, "Based on our proven entrance exam know-how and expanded infrastructure, Digital Daesung is signaling a steep quantum jump in 2026."

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.