[K-Women Talk] Insight into the 'KOSDAQ Rising Star' That Rose Sevenfold in a Year

Stock Options Worth Billions at Alteogen and Others
KRX Selection List Proves Highly Predictive
A Key Indicator for Both Investors and Job Seekers

Lee Sook-eun Publisher of Employment Backbone · CEO of Lee's Bookstore

“If you could go back one year, what would you do?” In response to this question posed by a community, the top answer was “I would invest in Nvidia stock.” Since it has risen 2.5 times compared to a year ago, this seems like a reasonable answer at first glance, but looking at our market, there is a better alternative.

As of August 31 last year, Alteogen, which has soared an incredible 7 times, is the winner. Alteogen, which has quietly risen steeply, eventually surpassed EcoPro BM on August 27 to become the number one in market capitalization on KOSDAQ. The key factor was its core technology: a subcutaneous injection (SC) based on human hyaluronidase.

The legend of “just working at the company and becoming a multi-billionaire” is not only about Nvidia employees. Alteogen employees who exercised stock options last year and this year made profits ranging from 500 million to 1.3 billion KRW, several times the CEO’s compensation.

Not only Alteogen, but one out of four listed bio venture companies reportedly grants stock options to attract top talent. Since this industry requires a long time to secure sales due to clinical trials, they secure talent through stock options instead of high salaries. In the first half of this year, companies like Rigachem Bio and ABL Bio also granted stock options to their employees. From this year, even venture companies that are not profitable can grant performance-based restricted stock units (RSUs) to employees free of charge, opening more opportunities to bet on company growth rather than immediate salaries.

Given these circumstances, job seekers need as much insight into companies as investors do. If you gave up salary and work-life balance just for future growth potential, but after several years there is no fruit and the stocks and stock options you received are practically worthless, would you still be motivated to work?

However, a credible public institution helps cultivate our insight into companies every year. The Korea Exchange (KRX) announces the ‘KOSDAQ Rising Star’ list once a year. This year, at the end of August, 39 companies were selected and announced as the ‘2024 KOSDAQ Rising Stars.’ Under the supervision of KRX, analysts and external experts carefully select companies based on market dominance and continuous sales growth, and after CEO interviews, making it an important investment indicator.

The predictive power of this list is surprisingly remarkable. Most companies that performed well this year, such as Alteogen, Classys, and PharmaResearch, ranked high on last year’s list. The leading stock EcoPro BM was also selected as a KOSDAQ Rising Star for three consecutive years since 2021. If you want to predict companies with high stock price growth next year, carefully analyzing this year’s selected list can be one method.

By entering the press release menu on the Korea Exchange website and typing ‘KOSDAQ Rising Star’ in the search bar, you can find not only this year’s list but also data from 2015 onward. Looking through several years’ lists, you can identify companies that shone briefly for a year or two and disappeared, as well as those that have been consistent for over five years. You can also gauge growth by how many ranks they have climbed compared to last year.

The most noteworthy companies to find the second Alteogen are those selected for two or three consecutive years with steadily rising ranks each year. Since for both investment and job seeking, growth rate and future potential are more important than current sales or profits. According to this criterion, besides the aforementioned Alteogen, Classys, and PharmaResearch, companies like Jusung Engineering and Park Systems also qualify this year.

By the way, this year I definitely plan to include these in my watchlist. I have been checking the list every year but never thought of investing, so I guess I wasted valuable information.

Lee Sook-eun, Publisher of Employment Backbone & CEO of Lee’s Bookstore