[Click eStock] "SK Networks, Stable Growth Trend... Target Price Maintained"

Hana Securities maintained a buy rating and a target price of 7,000 KRW for SK Networks on the 12th, stating that "financial stability is rapidly recovering, and the utilization plan for treasury shares is also a point to watch."

On the same day, Yuje-seon, a researcher at Hana Securities, said, "SK Networks is undergoing business unit adjustments and asset sales under a cost-efficiency policy. This trend is expected to continue this year," adding, "The price-earnings ratio (PER) based on this year is 12.0 times, and the price-to-book ratio (PBR) is 0.4 times."

Sales in the fourth quarter of last year were 1.8 trillion KRW, down 8.8% year-on-year. This was due to a base effect caused by the major new device launches in the information and communication sector being moved up from the fourth quarter to the third quarter last year. Other sectors saw growth in scale compared to the previous year. Operating profit improved by 71.5% year-on-year to 36.7 billion KRW.

The year-end dividend per share (DPS) was confirmed at 200 KRW, with the dividend record date set for April 1. Researcher Yu said, "Although it is necessary to consider some non-cash expenses reflected in this year's performance, dividends exceeding the net income were paid, including interim dividends," but noted, "However, this should be seen as a special case due to major asset sales last year and the resulting large cash inflow."

He added, "Considering the decline in debt ratio and improvement in performance, policies to enhance financial stability and strengthen shareholder returns can coexist going forward," and expressed expectations that "while there is room for performance fluctuations this year under the cost-efficiency policy, most one-off issues were resolved last year, so a stable growth trend is expected to continue, taking the base effect into account."