The price-earnings ratio (PER) and price-to-book ratio (PBR) of 200 corporations representing the domestic stock market were found to be lower than the average levels of both developed and emerging countries.
On the 7th, the Korea Exchange announced that it calculated investment indicators based on the settlement of account financial statements of the KOSDAQ for the previous year, which revealed that the PER and PBR of KOSPI200 corporations were recorded at 11 times and 0.8 times, respectively, as of the closing price on the 2nd of this month.
The PER, which shows the level of stock prices relative to the profits earned by corporations, was below the overall average of developed countries at 21.3 times and the average of emerging countries at 15.2 times.
The PBR of KOSPI200 corporations was lower than the average of 3.5 times for 23 developed countries and 1.8 times for 24 emerging countries. The PBR, calculated by dividing the current price by the net worth per share, indicates that a PBR below 1 means the market capitalization is undervalued compared to the book value of net worth. The countries compared were selected based on the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) market classification criteria.
Among developed countries, the PBR for the United States was recorded at 4.8 times, while the United Kingdom and France were at 1.9 times, and Japan at 1.5 times. The PBR for emerging India was 4.0 times, while Taiwan was 2.6 times, Brazil was 1.7 times, and Thailand and China showed 1.6 times and 1.5 times, respectively.
The dividend yield for KOSPI200 was 2.4%, higher than that of developed countries (1.9%) but lower than that of emerging countries (2.8%).
Meanwhile, the PER of all listed KOSPI companies significantly dropped from 20.7 times last year to 12.7 times this year. A transaction official noted, "The net profits of listed companies' controlling shares increased by 57.7% compared to the previous year, reaching 160 trillion won, but the market capitalization declined by 3.5% to 2022 trillion won due to global political uncertainty and recession fears."
The PBR of all KOSPI companies was recorded at 0.9 times, showing a slight decrease compared to the previous year. This was largely due to the fact that while the market capitalization of KOSPI listed companies decreased, the total capital of controlling shares increased by 8.4% over the year.
The dividend yield for all listed KOSPI companies rose from 1.9% to 2.2%. A transaction official stated, "This is due to the increase in dividend totals for KOSPI listed companies by 11.9%, reaching 44 trillion won in 2023 due to value-up programs."