[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Is it because of the magic of CEO Young-Seop Kim, who is a strategist and financial expert?

KT, which has been promoting AI transformation (AX) and strengthening shareholder returns, has broken through the 50,000 won barrier for the first time in 15 years.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 19th, KT's stock price closed at 57,000 won, up 1,200 won (2.42%) from the previous day. This is the first time in about 15 years since February 1, 2010 (the intraday high of 51,200 won) that the stock price reached the 50,000 won range based on the closing price, following the renewal of the 52-week high.

KT's stock price has been on a steep upward trend, rising by a whopping 58.62% over the past two years since CEO Kim Young-seop took office in August 2023 (based on the closing price on August 10, 2023).

Considering that other telecommunications companies, SK Telecom and LG Uplus, saw their stock price increases of only 20.73% and 6.58%, respectively, during the same period, KT's stock price increase is considered to be unrivaled. In addition, on January 24 of this year, it closed at a market capitalization of 11.845 trillion won, surpassing SK Telecom to become the top telecommunications service sector market capitalization.

There is an analysis that the market has recognized KT's intrinsic value since the inauguration of KT CEO Kim Young-seop, as shareholder return policies, mid- to long-term profitability, and global AI partnership strategies have been concretized.

The securities industry is maintaining a buy recommendation for KT.

Kim Hong-sik, a researcher at Hana Securities, said, “Considering that the total shareholder return amount will reach 950 billion won, KT’s stock price will rise further,” and “Although KT’s stock price has risen 40% since April of last year, there is a high possibility that KT’s stock price will rise by an additional 40% or more over the next year,” suggesting a target stock price of 70,000 won.

Meanwhile, KT set its return on equity (ROE) target at 9-10% last November and announced a value-up plan to buy back and burn a cumulative 1 trillion won worth of its own stocks by 2028. Last year, it introduced quarterly dividends for the first time since its founding, and the dividend for the fourth quarter was maintained at 500 won per share, following the first to third quarters.

In addition, in the fourth quarter of last year, a workforce restructuring of 4,500 people was carried out, including 2,800 voluntary retirements and 1,700 transfers to subsidiaries. Due to this, the one-time cost caused operating profit last year to fall 50.9% year-on-year to KRW 809.5 billion, but it did not affect the stock price increase.

A KT official explained, "This has been maintained since the foreign investor shareholding limit (49%) was reached in November 2024," adding, "This is the first time that the foreign investor shareholding limit has been reached since 2019."