Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing, Clepsydra Capital

Sanghyun Park

Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing

Clepsydra Capital

Investigate special situations, pairs, and index rebalancing trades in Korea.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>The index focuses on qualitative factors like capital efficiency and shareholder returns, but efforts to impose sector balance may have overextended its market benchmark role.</li>
<li>Some companies not fitting the 'value-up' narrative got included, while market favorites were sidelined by sector rankings, which is puzzling given the index's original goal.</li>
<li>Still, with rebalancing cut down to once a year, we should expect the flow impact on the index names to hit harder than initially thought compared to their sector peers.</li>
</ul>


The index focuses on qualitative factors like capital efficiency and shareholder returns, but efforts to impose sector balance may have overextended its market benchmark role.
Some companies not fitting the 'value-up' narrative got included, while market favorites were sidelined by sector rankings, which is puzzling given the index's original goal.
Still, with rebalancing cut down to once a year, we should expect the flow impact on the index names to hit harder than initially thought compared to their sector peers.


All the Scoop on the Korea Value-Up Index

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>One of the emerging trends in the Korean equity markets in the past several weeks has been the shift out of high beta, high P/E stocks to deep value stocks.</li>
<li>In this insight, we will discuss about the top 10 stocks in Korea with highest net cash as percentage of market cap. </li>
<li>These 10 stocks are up on average 2.9% YTD, outperforming KOSPI which is down 5.9% in the same period.</li>
</ul>


One of the emerging trends in the Korean equity markets in the past several weeks has been the shift out of high beta, high P/E stocks to deep value stocks.
In this insight, we will discuss about the top 10 stocks in Korea with highest net cash as percentage of market cap. 
These 10 stocks are up on average 2.9% YTD, outperforming KOSPI which is down 5.9% in the same period.


Top 10 Stocks in Korea With Highest Net Cash as Percentage of Market Cap

Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 / Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Nine companies disclosed value-up plans, with four official and five pending disclosures. Initially, these announcements boosted stock prices, but long-term correlations were inconclusive. Yet, shareholder returns notably rose in H1.</li>
<li>NPS increased stakes in three of the nine recently announced value-up companies. They share traits in value-up trading (large caps &amp; low PBR), potentially guiding our strategy as NPS enters.</li>
<li>BlackRock's Hong Kong branch has recently engaged with six Korean asset management firms for potential entrustment of its Asian fund's Korean investment portion, focusing on the value-up policy.</li>
</ul>


Nine companies disclosed value-up plans, with four official and five pending disclosures. Initially, these announcements boosted stock prices, but long-term correlations were inconclusive. Yet, shareholder returns notably rose in H1.
NPS increased stakes in three of the nine recently announced value-up companies. They share traits in value-up trading (large caps &amp; low PBR), potentially guiding our strategy as NPS enters.
BlackRock's Hong Kong branch has recently engaged with six Korean asset management firms for potential entrustment of its Asian fund's Korean investment portion, focusing on the value-up policy.


Recently Observed Market Flow Movements Related to Korea's Value-Up Initiatives

<ul>
<li>Local institutional investors were disappointed Kiwoom omitted COE from their value-up disclosure. They seek clearer plans to address low-yield assets and reduce COE.</li>
<li>Rapidly rising interest in COE among local institutional investors is now shaping the screening criteria for the Korea Exchange's value-up index, possibly using COE as a primary factor for inclusion.</li>
<li>Competition likely centers on selecting and weighting stocks, including those beyond KOSPI 200. Key metric: COE linked with ROE.</li>
</ul>


Local institutional investors were disappointed Kiwoom omitted COE from their value-up disclosure. They seek clearer plans to address low-yield assets and reduce COE.
Rapidly rising interest in COE among local institutional investors is now shaping the screening criteria for the Korea Exchange's value-up index, possibly using COE as a primary factor for inclusion.
Competition likely centers on selecting and weighting stocks, including those beyond KOSPI 200. Key metric: COE linked with ROE.


Hot Topic Among Local Institutions in Recent Days: Utilizing COE in Value-Up Investing

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech, Aequitas Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyzed the changes in short interest of KRX Stocks as of Apr 12th which has an aggregated short interest worth USD6.7bn.</li>
<li>We tabulate league table for top short by value and short as multiple of ADT, as well as weekly increases &amp; decreases in short value, short as multiple of ADT.</li>
<li>We highlight short interest changes in HMM, LG Electronics .</li>
</ul>


We analyzed the changes in short interest of KRX Stocks as of Apr 12th which has an aggregated short interest worth USD6.7bn.
We tabulate league table for top short by value and short as multiple of ADT, as well as weekly increases &amp; decreases in short value, short as multiple of ADT.
We highlight short interest changes in HMM, LG Electronics .


KRX Short Interest Weekly (Apr 12th): HMM, LG Electronics

South Korea

KIWOOM Securities Co., Ltd. is an online financial institution.  The Company offers equity and fixed income securities brokerage, dealing, and underwriting services.  Kiwoom Securities provides its services to individual investors.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
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Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Kiwoom Securities (039490 KS)

All the Scoop on the Korea Value-Up Index

This post breaks down everything we need to know about the Korea Value-up Index that KRX just unveiled today, especially focusing on those...

Sanghyun Park

Top 10 Stocks in Korea With Highest Net Cash as Percentage of Market Cap

We will discuss about the top 10 stocks in Korea with highest net cash as percentage of market cap. These 10 stocks are up on average 2.9% YTD,...

Douglas Kim

Hot Topic Among Local Institutions in Recent Days: Utilizing COE in Value-Up Investing

This post delves into the recent buzz among local institutions, as they gear up to incorporate COE linked with ROE for value-up investing.

Sanghyun Park

KRX Short Interest Weekly (Apr 12th): HMM, LG Electronics

We analyzed KRX short interest report for the past week. We estimate the short interests were USD6.7bn and highlighted short interest changes in...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

All the Scoop on the Korea Value-Up Index

This post breaks down everything we need to know about the Korea Value-up Index that KRX just unveiled today, especially focusing on those...

Sanghyun Park

Top 10 Stocks in Korea With Highest Net Cash as Percentage of Market Cap

We will discuss about the top 10 stocks in Korea with highest net cash as percentage of market cap. These 10 stocks are up on average 2.9% YTD,...

Douglas Kim

Recently Observed Market Flow Movements Related to Korea's Value-Up Initiatives

Value-up remains pivotal in the Korean market's second half for market flow. This post investigates the recently observed movements related to the...

Sanghyun Park

Hot Topic Among Local Institutions in Recent Days: Utilizing COE in Value-Up Investing

This post delves into the recent buzz among local institutions, as they gear up to incorporate COE linked with ROE for value-up investing.

Sanghyun Park

KRX Short Interest Weekly (Apr 12th): HMM, LG Electronics

We analyzed KRX short interest report for the past week. We estimate the short interests were USD6.7bn and highlighted short interest changes in...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM