Kukon Included in KOSDAQ150... Stock Price Still Has Room to Rise

High Valuation of Market Position and Stable Revenue Structure

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Kukon is continuing its upward trend ahead of its inclusion in the KOSDAQ150. Securities analysts believe there is still room for growth considering its market position and stable profit structure.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 26th, Kukon closed at 81,800 KRW, up 5.82% (4,500 KRW) from the previous day. This contrasts with the KOSDAQ index, which fell 0.44% due to interest rate hike news. Kukon has also been rising recently, gaining 16.69% from the 23rd to the 25th of this month. As of 2:32 PM on the same day, Kukon was trading at 82,700 KRW, up 1.10% (900 KRW) from the previous day.

The direct cause of Kukon's rise is the announcement of its inclusion in the KOSDAQ150 on December 10. The KOSDAQ150 is an index composed of 150 stocks that meet criteria such as market representativeness, sector representativeness, and liquidity within the KOSDAQ technology sector. As a representative data company, Kukon is expected to attract more capital.

In fact, institutions and foreigners have been actively buying Kukon while its stock price has been rising. From the 23rd to the 25th of this month, institutions and foreigners net purchased 2.9 billion KRW and 1.8 billion KRW worth of Kukon shares, respectively. Although institutions sold 14 billion KRW worth of Kukon shares from the 1st to the 22nd of this month, they reversed to a buying trend following the KOSDAQ150 inclusion announcement.

Securities firms still see potential for Kukon's stock price to rise. Yesterday, Hi Investment & Securities set a target price of 110,000 KRW for Kukon and gave a "Buy" rating. Although many securities firms have analyzed Kukon, this is the first time a target price has been presented.

The basis for the target price exceeding 100,000 KRW is Kukon's market position and stable profit structure. Hi Investment & Securities highlighted Kukon's 15 years of experience and infrastructure in the data business as strengths. Additionally, the MyData business, which will be fully implemented from January next year based on Kukon's competitive edge, is expected to serve as a mid- to long-term growth driver.

Researcher Kim Hyun-ki of Hi Investment & Securities explained, "Small and medium-sized enterprises that incur high costs to build MyData-related infrastructure and financial institutions that need to transmit data to multiple platform channels will seek Kukon's API-based services," adding, "In the future, financial institutions will offer services such as integrated account information inquiry, financial product recommendations, and financial consulting."

Profitability also contributes to Kukon's growth potential. Kukon's operating profit margin in the third quarter of this year was 27.7%, which is three times higher than the average operating profit margin of 8.35% for KOSDAQ companies with December fiscal year-end in the third quarter. Researcher Kim said, "The high margin in the data sector is due to almost no cost of goods sold," and explained, "Even if stock price volatility occurs due to a free capital increase in the future, it is not for negative reasons, so recovery will be immediate."