SK Telecom (017670.KS) shares have surged for a second consecutive day as expectations for earnings normalization and the value of its stake in Anthropic come into focus. The rally pushed the company's market capitalization past 20 trillion won during intraday trading.
According to the Korea Exchange on January 9, SK Telecom was trading at 98,900 won, up 9,900 won (11.12%) from the previous session. Market capitalization reached 21.1568 trillion won ($15.6 billion). This marks the first time SK Telecom's market cap has exceeded 20 trillion won since its spin-off from SK Square in 2021.
IBK Investment & Securities raised its target price for SK Telecom to 107,000 won on the same day. "This reflects valuation rerating driven by expectations for earnings recovery and the highlighted value of its Anthropic stake," analyst Kim Tae-hyun said. "Annual earnings are expected to recover to pre-hacking incident levels, and dividends per share are also expected to normalize to 3,540 won, the level seen in 2024." SK Telecom invested approximately $100 million in Anthropic in 2023 and established a strategic partnership with the AI company.
"Based on this year's earnings, SK Telecom's expected dividend yield stands at around 4.0%," said Kim Hong-sik, analyst at Hana Securities. "Considering the domestic and international telecom market environment with rising expectations for 5G standalone (SA) deployment, we believe there is a high likelihood the stock will break through 100,000 won in the first half of the year."
Changes in foreign ownership were also cited as a factor behind the share price rally. "Foreign ownership has fallen to historically low levels, and considering dividend-related buying is expected to flow in after the first-quarter DPS announcement, the supply-demand situation looks favorable," Kim said. "We believe investors should consider buying before the full earnings season begins."
The current share price has already surpassed Mirae Asset Securities' target price of 98,000 won, which was raised just the day before. "Earnings improvement through cost efficiency is continuing, and both revenue and operating profit are expected to increase year-on-year this year," analyst Choi Yu-jin at Mirae Asset Securities said. "Expectations for strengthened shareholder return policies also remain valid."
