SKM
Same old, slightly shinier story
Yuanta Securities just gave SK Telecom a higher sticker price, lifting its target to 118,000 won from 100,000 won. Translation: the broker thinks the stock has a bit more room to run, even if the near-term earnings picture isn’t exactly setting off fireworks.
Q1 looks… fine?
The note says SK Telecom’s first-quarter consolidated sales are expected to slip 1.7% year over year to about KRW 4.4 trillion, while operating profit is projected to fall 11.3% to KRW 503.4 billion. That’s not a blockbuster, but it’s also basically the market’s napkin math, which is the kind of thing investors often breathe a sigh of relief over.
The hidden engine in the basement
Where things get more interesting is SK Broadband. Yuanta expects the subsidiary’s operating profit to rise, helped by the Pangyo data center acquisition, growth in wired services like internet and IPTV, and lower labor costs after voluntary retirements. In other words: the boring plumbing business may be doing the heavy lifting.
AI hype, but with a spreadsheet
Yuanta also bumped up the implied value of SK Telecom’s Anthropic stake, reflecting the market’s growing appetite for AI-related assets. So even if the core telecom business is more “steady cruise control” than “moonshot,” the company’s portfolio value is getting a fresh coat of paint.
Big picture: the upgrade isn’t a victory lap, but it does suggest SK Telecom is looking a little sturdier than the headline numbers imply — and in this market, “fine and undervalued” can still be enough to get attention.