[Featured Stock] Q3 Earnings Expected to Fall Short of Market Expectations... Kia Shows Early Session Weakness

Kia is showing weakness in early trading on the 22nd amid forecasts that its third-quarter earnings will fall short of market expectations.

On the 15th, the new logo of Kia Motors was displayed on the exterior wall of the Kia Motors headquarters building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The new logo removes the previous red oval border and presents the letters "KIA" in a simple and futuristic style. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

At 9:27 a.m. that day, Kia was trading at 92,700 KRW, down 2.42% (2,300 KRW) from the previous trading day.

The stock is interpreted to be weak due to securities firms' forecasts that third-quarter earnings will disappoint. Kiwoom Securities lowered Kia's target price from 150,000 KRW to 130,000 KRW in a report released that day.

Shin Yoon-chul, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Third-quarter sales are expected to record 25.2 trillion KRW, down 1% year-on-year, and operating profit is expected to decrease by 1% to 2.82 trillion KRW, slightly below market expectations (sales of 26.5 trillion KRW and operating profit of 3.15 trillion KRW)."

Kiwoom Securities noted that the absence of a new car cycle (boom period) in India, where high growth rates were projected at the beginning of the year, may prevent the stock from fully reflecting the growth momentum in India for the time being. Additionally, they advised that if Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, wins the U.S. presidential election, there could be disruptions in automobile exports to the U.S., a major demand market for Kia's Mexico plant, and that communication regarding risk countermeasures is necessary at this point.