(Jan 13): Hyundai Motor Co group stocks have added around US$24 billion in market value so far this month as investor excitement over robotics extends into the new year.
The automaker’s shares jumped more than 10% on Tuesday (Jan 13) to a fresh record, as analysts hiked price targets following the unveiling of its Atlas humanoid at the CES technology show last week. Affiliates including logistics arm Hyundai Glovis Co, parts supplier Hyundai Mobis Co and IT firm Hyundai Autoever Corp have similarly climbed to all-time highs.
A new partnership with Nvidia Corp, including work on Atlas, has sparked interest in Hyundai’s physical artificial intelligence operations over the past few months. That’s helping related stocks catch up after lagging last year’s world-beating rally in South Korea’s equity market, which was driven by hype over AI memory chips and corporate reforms.
“The perception has changed,” said Huh Jae-Hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities Co. Hyundai’s robotics and self-driving projects are helping the company shed its image of being outdated and its stock is still trading at low valuations so it has room to rise further, he added.
Hyundai Motor shares trade at 8.3 times forward earnings estimates, below the benchmark Kospi’s 10 times.
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The big gains in Hyundai Motor stocks come as investors hunt for AI beneficiaries in the world of physical applications, with new share listings helping add to the frenzy. HD Hyundai Robotics Co, part of a separate Korean business group, has hired banks to work on a Seoul initial public offering.
Hyundai Motor’s Boston Dynamics unit is currently estimated to be valued at 100 trillion won (RM275.18 billion), according to Daol Investment & Securities. Hyundai Motor Group has said it has no concrete plan for an IPO of the US-based robotics firm, which it bought in 2020.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow
