"Hyundai Motor's Future Business Story to Unfold in H2 Gains Attention... Target Price Maintained" [Click e-Stock]

There is analysis suggesting that Hyundai Motor Company's medium- to long-term future business drivers-such as Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV) and robotics-will begin to take concrete shape starting from the second half of this year.

According to Shinhan Investment Corp. on April 28, analyst Park Kwangrae maintained a "buy" rating and a target price of 670,000 won for Hyundai Motor, stating, "Factors that will drive an expansion of the company's valuation, beyond simply defending current profits, will be reflected in the share price."

Regarding Hyundai Motor's first-quarter results, Park evaluated, "The company demonstrated the strength of its core business." Operating profit for the first quarter was 2.5147 trillion won, down 30.8% year-on-year and slightly below market expectations. The decisive cause of the profit decline was costs arising from U.S. tariff policies, with the impact from tariffs amounting to 860 billion won-accounting for about 77% of the total profit decrease.

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Park noted, "Global wholesale sales fell 2.5% year-on-year to 976,000 units due to temporary supply-side factors such as the Middle East conflict and production disruptions." He added, "Nevertheless, the trend of expanding eco-friendly vehicle sales is continuing, with the share of hybrid models reaching a record high of 17.8%."

What is more important than short-term performance is the growing expectations for future businesses that will become tangible from the second half onward. Hyundai Motor plans to deploy SDV pace cars (small-batch vehicles for technology verification) in the second half to validate its autonomous driving technologies.

Additionally, in the third quarter, Hyundai will open the Robot Meta-Plant Application Center (RMAC), a humanoid robot training center, in Georgia, United States. This move is expected to accelerate preparations for the mass production of Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot, Atlas, and its deployment in manufacturing sites.

Park forecasted Hyundai Motor's annual operating profit for this year at 11.8692 trillion won, a 3.5% increase from the previous year. He commented, "The effects of production disruptions and exchange rate revaluation are likely to recover in the second half."

He further added, "Tariffs and incentive spending will remain structural challenges in defining future profitability, and now it is time to prove execution capability in the domain of physical AI (artificial intelligence)."

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