Equity Long-Short

Mo Aziz

Capital markets veteran with 25 years across sell-side and buy-side research, investor relations, and fund management. Currently publish independent equity research (Mofferies Investment Research, via Smartkarma) spanning semiconductor memory (DRAM/NAND/HBM), foundry, semiconductor equipment and advanced packaging, gold and cross-asset strategy, financials forensics, and APAC IPOs — with a standing watchlist of 190+ companies across 41 countries. Background includes deep aviation-sector expertise (airlines, airports, OEMs, lessors, air cargo, travel/OTAs). Approach centers on identifying cyclical inflection points and mispriced risk across sectors, translated into explicit, actionable calls.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>KB retired ~W2.9tn of treasury shares in Q2 2026 alone — the most aggressive single capital-return action of any major Korean bank this cycle, with W800bn–900bn more flagged for 2H26.</li>
<li>Record FY25 profit (W5.84tn, +15.1% YoY) is still accelerating into FY26, backed by the widest non-bank earnings mix among Korea's four majors and a looming BOK rate hike.</li>
<li>We initiate BUY, TP W220,000 (17% upside), on a P/B-ROE framework — 10.6% FY26F ROE and 9.5% cost of equity justify a premium multiple versus domestic peers.</li>
</ul>


KB retired ~W2.9tn of treasury shares in Q2 2026 alone — the most aggressive single capital-return action of any major Korean bank this cycle, with W800bn–900bn more flagged for 2H26.
Record FY25 profit (W5.84tn, +15.1% YoY) is still accelerating into FY26, backed by the widest non-bank earnings mix among Korea's four majors and a looming BOK rate hike.
We initiate BUY, TP W220,000 (17% upside), on a P/B-ROE framework — 10.6% FY26F ROE and 9.5% cost of equity justify a premium multiple versus domestic peers.


KB Financial Group (105560 KS) — Record Earnings & Cancellation: The Cleanest Value-UP Compounder