[Click eStock] "SK Telecom Likely to Meet Q1 Earnings Expectations"

Yuanta Securities maintained a target price of 65,000 KRW and a 'Buy' investment rating for SK Telecom, expecting first-quarter earnings in line with consensus (average estimates) on the 9th.

Researcher Lee Seung-woong evaluated, "The first-quarter consolidated operating revenue is expected to increase by 1.2% year-on-year to 4.4 trillion KRW, and operating profit is expected to rise by 1.7% to 503.4 billion KRW, which aligns with the market consensus of 4.4 trillion KRW and 504.8 billion KRW."

He analyzed, "Stable growth in both wired and wireless communications continues, while overall cost increases appear to be limited. The number of 5G subscribers increased by 675,000 from the previous quarter to 16.35 million. Although the net increase rate has somewhat slowed due to market maturity, the launch of flagship devices was brought forward by two weeks, resulting in a higher net increase than initially expected."

He forecasted consolidated operating revenue for 2024 to rise 1.3% year-on-year to 17.8 trillion KRW, and operating profit to increase by 4% to 1.8 trillion KRW.

He added, "Profit growth is expected to continue as SK Telecom strengthens its position in the mobile network operator (MNO) market through the increase in 5G subscribers and efficient cost control. New business results are also becoming visible. The company plans to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) joint venture (JV) within the year with Deutsche Telekom, E& Group, Singtel Group, and SoftBank, which will accelerate the global AI business through a telecom-specialized large language model (LLM)."