[Featured Stock] 'Earnings Improvement Expected' Korea Financial Group, Up 4.43%

The stock price of Korea Financial Group is on the rise. Expectations that this year's performance will improve and that damage to earnings from one-time costs will be reduced are also being reflected.

At 11:27 a.m. on the 16th, Korea Financial Group was trading at 68,400 won, up 4.43% from the previous day, marking a 52-week high.

The day before, Korea Financial Group announced that its consolidated operating profit for last year was 821.2 billion won, an increase of 50.5% compared to the same period the previous year. Revenue decreased by 7.8% to 23.0796 trillion won, while net income rose by 10.8% to 708.9 billion won. The company explained that operating performance improved due to a decline in market interest rates and a rise in stock prices.

On the same day, Jeong Min-ki, a researcher at Samsung Securities, said, "If the profitability recovery of Korea Financial Group is confirmed, the valuation discount on the stock price could narrow," adding, "Considering capital-intensive core businesses such as corporate finance (IB) and asset management (Trading), the improvement in performance due to the interest rate decline is expected to be significant." He also predicted, "Since large-scale real estate-related provisions and valuation losses were proactively recognized last year, future earnings damage from one-time costs will be limited."