Meritz Securities on the 16th pointed to Kia as the corporations among traditional original equipment manufacturer (OEM) automakers that should receive the highest valuation. It kept its "Buy" rating and raised the target price to 220,000 won from 150,000 won. Kia's previous trading day closing price was 152,500 won.
Kim Jun-sung, a researcher at Meritz Securities, focused on Kia's smart car and software competitiveness. Kim said, "Kia will disclose the core technologies for smart car development within the year and, along with announcing global partnerships, will sequentially present demo car distribution, data collection and training, and a mass production timeline," adding, "This can clearly show the technology gap with existing legacy automakers."
Reflecting this competitiveness, Meritz Securities applied Toyota's price-earnings ratio (PER) of 10.7 times—the highest among legacy OEMs—to Kia to derive a fair share price.
The value of the robotics business was also presented as a key basis for the price target increase. Researcher Kim analyzed that the corporate value of Boston Dynamics, Hyundai Motor Group's robotics subsidiary, could rise significantly.
Kim said, "For Humanoid Robot corporations, the key to value is whether they have secured a pipeline for data collection and training," adding, "Hyundai Motor Group, through the shift to software-defined vehicles (SDF), can deploy the humanoid robot 'Atlas' at scale, enabling massive data collection and training."
Kim added, "If the SDF deployment of Atlas is confirmed in the second half of this year, Boston Dynamics' market value could surpass Figure AI (about 60 trillion won), which currently receives the highest valuation among humanoid startups."
The equity structure was also evaluated positively. Currently, the largest shareholder of Boston Dynamics, HMG Global's 55% equity, is held by Hyundai Motor, Kia, and Hyundai Mobis in a 5:3:2 ratio. Converted to individual equity stakes, that is roughly 28%, 17%, and 11%, respectively.
Kim emphasized, "As the corporate value of Boston Dynamics rises, the value of Kia's equity holdings increases as well," adding, "This is an important basis that can further lift Kia's fair share price."