In this article, we explore the 10 Best Korean Stocks to Buy.
South Korean equities suffered their worst single-day loss on record on March 4, according to a Reuters report. Reuters noted that the benchmark KOSPI plunged 12.06%, which is the biggest daily decline in the index’s 46-year history. According to Reuters, the selloff resulted from the escalating US-led attack on Iran. Although the conflict rattled the majority of Asian markets, losses in Korean stocks far outweighed its peers. This, said Reuters, is a reflection of the country’s acute energy vulnerability. However, analysts at Maybank Securities characterized the selloff as a positioning unwind rather than a deterioration in corporate fundamentals. For BNY Mellon economists, South Korea’s dependence on Gulf energy supply is a primary concern.
Yet, the Financial Times’, or FT’s, editorial board is of the opinion that the investment case for Korean stocks has never been more compelling. The FT noted in a March 11 opinion piece that an ambitious reform agenda is reshaping Korea’s equity landscape. For instance, President Lee Jae Myung has moved to dismantle the so-called “Korea discount”, which is a persistent undervaluation rooted in the outsized influence of family-controlled chaebols. To be specific, a law passed last July requires company directors to place all shareholders’ interests first, and in February, an amendment was enacted that mandates the cancellation of newly acquired treasury shares within a year. These governance overhauls, the FT said, have helped power a broader market re-rating, which explains in part why the KOSPI surged 44% year to date before the US-Israel adventure in Iran struck.
That rally convinced Goldman Sachs to raise its year-end 2026 KOSPI target to 7,000 from 6,400 on March 13. Goldman also lifted its 2026 earnings growth forecast to 130%, which is the third upward revision this year. The bank’s chief Asia Pacific equity strategist, Timothy Moe described the recent decline as a correction likely to be followed by a recovery to new highs. According to Moe, Korean stocks have a forward price-to-earnings multiples of just 8.8x, and that the semiconductor sector is operating in an “exceptionally favorable” environment. Beyond chips, the strategist also highlighted Korea’s growing footprint in robotics, nuclear power, defense, and shipbuilding as additional catalysts.
Against this backdrop, this article presents some of the best Korean names investors can latch on for diversification.
Our Methodology
To identify the 10 Best Korean Stocks to Buy, we used financial media sources, including Bloomberg, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal, as well as Korea-focused ETFs such as the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY), and the Finviz stock screener to build an initial pool of Korean companies listed in the United States. From this group, we filtered for stocks with an analyst consensus upside potential of more than 20% as of March 16, 2026. We also considered hedge fund sentiment for each stock, using Q4 2025 holdings data from Insider Monkey’s database. The final list is ranked in ascending order based on upside potential.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research shows we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).
Best Korean Stocks to Buy
10. Woori Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:WF)
Stock Upside: 26.68%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 8
Woori Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:WF) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 4, Woori Financial Group Inc. submitted its audited financial statements for fiscal year 2025 to the SEC via a Form 6-K filing. The company said the statements were prepared under the International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted in South Korea, or K-IFRS, and cover consolidated and separate financials.
According to the filing, external auditors issued an unmodified opinion on both the group’s 2025 and 2024 consolidated financial statements. They took the same stance on the company’s internal controls over financial reporting. In other words, the auditors found the financials to be a fair and accurate representation of the company’s position.
In the financial statements, Woori stated that at the group level, total assets surged to KRW 601.5 trillion from KRW 525.8 trillion in 2024. The company explained that the growth was driven by loan growth, an expanded securities portfolio, and the July 2025 consolidation of two newly acquired insurance subsidiaries. Net income came in at KRW 3.23 trillion, which was broadly flat year over year, the statements show. At the same time, credit loss provisions stood at KRW 3.36 trillion as measured under the expected credit loss model.
The statements also show that at the subsidiary level, Woori Bank, the group’s wholly-owned banking arm, saw its net income fall to KRW 2.58 trillion from KRW 3.05 trillion in 2024. The decline was due to rising credit costs and higher expenses weighing down on the income, the firm explained.
Woori Financial Group Inc. is a financial holding company in South Korea. It provides banking, credit card, securities, and asset management services through its subsidiaries. The company generates revenue from deposits, loans, investment products, and financial advisory services.
9. LG Display Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LPL)
Stock Upside: 27.76%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 11
LG Display Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LPL) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On February 26, Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) extended its long-term OLED material supply and license agreements with LG Display Co., Ltd.. The announcement builds on a partnership that has now spanned more than two decades.
For LG, this extension ensures a continued and secure supply of Universal Display Corporation’s, or UDC’s, UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent materials and OLED technologies. These are key ingredients in the production of high-performance OLED panels. UDC will deliver the materials and tech through UDC Ireland Limited, its wholly owned subsidiary.
LG and UDC started working together in this partnership way back in the early 2000s, when CRT screens were still the dominant TV technology. Over the course of the relationship, the two companies helped steer the display industry toward OLED. The partnership enabled LG to become one of the world’s leading OLED panel manufacturers.
To be specific, this latest extension builds on an agreement originally signed in 2007. It was renewed in 2021 for a five-year term, which makes the current agreement the beginning of the third cycle. According to LG’s management, the new cycle positions the company to advance its next-generation OLED product roadmap, which spans TVs, monitors, mobile devices, and automotive displays.
LG Display Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels used in televisions, laptops, monitors, smartphones, and automotive displays. The company’s revenue comes from supplying these panels to global electronics brands, including its affiliate LG Electronics.
8. KB Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:KB)
Stock Upside: 28.31%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21
KB Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:KB) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 6, KB Financial Group Inc. filed audit reports for its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kookmin Bank. The reports cover FY2025 and are prepared under K-IFRS and submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC.
KB Financial said in the filing that the reports were audited by Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers. The firm (auditor) issued an unqualified opinion on both the consolidated and separate financial statements for FY2025 and FY2024. In simpler words, the auditor looked at the company’s books and decided the financial records are accurate, complete, and follow all the rules.
According to KB Financial, Kookmin Bank had a strong FY2025 where it posted KRW 3.82 trillion in net profit compared to KRW 3.15 trillion in 2024. This growth was supported by a rise in net interest income to KRW 10.66 trillion and higher fee and commission income, the company said in the filing. It added that total assets expanded to KRW 584.9 trillion from KRW 562.9 trillion in 2024, and that total equity grew to KRW 39.0 trillion.
On the risk side, provisions for credit losses rose to KRW 1.03 trillion from KRW 680 billion in 2024. But despite the spike, Kookmin Bank generated an operating cash inflow of KRW 730 billion. This pushed cash and cash equivalents up to KRW 25.18 trillion by year-end.
At the group level, KB Financial itself reported consolidated net profit of KRW 5.84 trillion, up from KRW 5.03 trillion in 2024.
KB Financial Group Inc. is a financial holding company in South Korea. It operates through subsidiaries that provide banking, securities, insurance, and asset management services.
7. SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM)
Stock Upside: 30.11%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 12
SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 4, SK Telecom Co., Ltd. announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with infrastructure giant Schneider Electric and server manufacturer Supermicro. The MOU was signed at this year’s Mobile World Congress, or MWC26, in Barcelona, and it will see the three firms jointly develop a total solution for artificial-intelligence data center (AIDC) deployment.
The core of the deal is a pre-fabricated modular build model. This is where artificial-intelligence computing servers, power systems, and cooling infrastructure are integrated into a single pre-manufactured unit. The model will allow data centers to be assembled in a building-block configuration rather than from scratch, which is how most data centers today are built each time.
This approach, said SK Telecom in a press release, directly targets two of the biggest pain points in AIDC development today. The first one is long construction timelines, and the second is supply chain bottlenecks. These challenges have been a huge drag on the industry’s ability to keep pace with surging artificial-intelligence infrastructure demand, stated SK Telecom.
According to the details of the MOU, SK Telecom will contribute AIDC operational expertise. On their part, Supermicro will supply high-performance, GPU-optimized servers tailored to specific AI workloads and Schneider Electric will handle the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure.
SK Telecom Co., Ltd. is a South Korean telecommunications giant. It provides mobile voice, data, and wireless broadband services, along with enterprise solutions such as cloud, AI, and security platforms. The company also invests in digital businesses including media, e-commerce, and mobility services.
6. Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SHG)
Stock Upside: 30.89%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 22
Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SHG) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 3, Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. filed audit reports for Shinhan Bank, its wholly-owned banking subsidiary. The reports cover FY2025 and were prepared under K-IFRS. The company detailed in the Form 6-K filing that KPMG Samjong is the auditor on record, and that the auditor gave all statements a clean bill of health.
In the statements, Shinhan Bank posted KRW 3.78 trillion in consolidated net profit for the financial year, and the net interest income came in at KRW 9.17 trillion, compared to KRW 8.84 trillion in FY2024. The growth came on the back of healthy lending activity and improved fee income, noted management. Total assets expanded to KRW 596.97 trillion, which management said were funded largely by customer deposits of KRW 434.32 trillion.
However, the auditors flagged credit loss allowances of KRW 4.28 trillion. They also called out the bank’s level 3 derivatives and derivative-linked securities as key audit areas, given the complex models and unobservable inputs involved. In other words, these areas will require continued scrutiny in future disclosures.
Beyond Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Financial shared that the Group’s consolidated net profit rose to KRW 5.08 trillion from KRW 4.56 trillion in FY2024. It added that basic earnings per share climbed to KRW 9,812 from KRW 8,441.
The company also filed a separate set of audit reports for Shinhan Card, its credit card subsidiary, on the same day.
Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd. is a South Korean financial holding company. Its businesses span banking, securities, insurance, and asset management.
5. POSCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:PKX)
Stock Upside: 35.58%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 9
POSCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:PKX) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 11, the board of directors of POSCO Future M, a battery materials subsidiary of POSCO Holdings Inc., approved a KRW 357 billion investment to build its first overseas artificial graphite anode material plant. The plant will be located in Thai Nguyen, an industrial city in northern Vietnam.
The company committed to start construction in the second half of this year. It added that it targets to start mass production in 2028, and that the plant will be built on a site capable of scaling up to 55,000 metric tons of annual production capacity. Further expansion will proceed in phases as additional orders are secured, POSCO noted.
Source: Pexels
According to management, the move is a direct response to intensifying global trade regulations. This includes the US Inflation Reduction Act’s Prohibited Foreign Entity rules and Europe’s Critical Raw Materials Act. Both of these regulations are pushing automakers and battery manufacturers to reduce their dependence on Chinese suppliers and diversify their supply chains, stated POSCO.
Management stated that it chose Vietnam specifically for its lower labor and logistics costs. The country also offers export-friendly trade policies and favorable access to the US market. As such, noted management in the press release, this gives POSCO Future M a competitive cost structure against Chinese rivals who have long dominated the space through cheap minerals and labor.
POSCO Holdings Inc. is a South Korean steelmaking and industrial company. It produces and sells steel products such as hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and stainless steel, which are used in automotive, construction, shipbuilding, and machinery industries. The company also operates in energy, chemicals, and materials businesses, including lithium and nickel for batteries.
4. MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:MX)
Stock Upside: 41.84%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 15
MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:MX) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 5, MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation shared its Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings in which its bottom line beat expectations but the top line came up short.
On revenue, MagnaChip brought in $40.57 million for the quarter, missing the Wall Street consensus estimate of $47.5 million. The figure is also 17% lower than the income posted in Q4 FY2024. According to management, the shortfall was largely driven by continued pricing pressure in China on older, lower-margin legacy products. This was compounded by an unfavorable product mix and a one-time $2.7 million sales incentive the company offered to clear inventory, noted management.
The company reported an EPS loss of $0.08 per share for the quarter, which was well ahead of the $0.25 that analysts anticipated. Management said that the company managed the EPS beat despite the weak revenue because of the impact of its ongoing cost-cutting program. The program included a headcount reduction expected to save over $2 million annually.
For the full year 2025, revenue totaled $178.9 million, down from $185.8 million in 2024. The full-year net loss widened to $29.7 million, or $0.82 per share.
Looking ahead, management guided for $44-$48 million in revenue for Q1 FY2026. It also expects gross margin to recover to 14%-16%, up from the 9.3% posted in Q4 FY2025.
MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation is a South Korea-based semiconductor company. It designs and manufactures analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, including display driver integrated circuits, power management chips, and foundry services for consumer electronics, industrial applications, and communications equipment. Its products are used in smartphones, televisions, LED lighting, and automotive systems.
3. Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG)
Stock Upside: 49.05%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 94
Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 2, Morgan Stanley analyst Seyon Park trimmed the firm’s price target on Coupang, Inc. to $29 from $31, while maintaining an Overweight rating.
The cut follows Coupang’s Q4 2025 earnings miss reported on February 26. In the earnings report, the company posted an EPS loss of $0.01 and undershot the $0.02 consensus estimate. Quarterly revenue came in at $8.84 billion, falling short of the $9.12 billion expectation, though it was still up 10.9% year over year.
Besides the financial report, Morgan Stanley acknowledged ongoing headwinds from a major data breach that exposed the personal information of over 33 million customers. The incident led to the resignation of CEO Park Dae-jun and is expected to weigh on growth and profitability over the next few months through, according to the analysts, higher cybersecurity spending and lingering damage to customer sentiment.
On the positive side, Morgan Stanley noted that Coupang has largely moved past the worst of the breach’s regulatory fallout. Analyst Park noted that operational performance in Korea shows improvement and the company’s expansion in Taiwan is progressing well. These are the reasons Park gave for holding the Overweight stance despite the cut.
This is actually Morgan Stanley’s second consecutive price target reduction on Coupang. The firm had already cut its target to $31 from $35 in December 2025 when the data breach first surfaced.
Coupang, Inc. is a South Korean e-commerce company. It operates an online retail platform offering products across categories such as consumer goods, electronics, apparel, and groceries. This is supported by its logistics network known as “Rocket Delivery.” The company also provides food delivery, fintech, and video streaming services.
2. Korea Electric Power Corporation (NYSE:KEP)
Stock Upside: 51.36%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 14
Korea Electric Power Corporation (NYSE:KEP) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On March 18, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) introduced Smart Electric Life, a new platform that brings together 39 energy services in one place. Consumers can now easily access electricity rates, welfare discounts, and renewable energy programs without navigating multiple agencies.
The platform consolidates services previously spread across seven organizations, including KEPCO, the Korea Energy Agency, and the Korea Power Exchange. It features tools like “Find My Benefits,” which helps households discover discounts by entering basic information, and bill simulations that show potential savings from adjusting electricity usage. It also highlights the Plus DR program, which rewards users for shifting consumption to daytime hours when solar power is abundant.
KEPCO officials emphasized that Smart Electric Life is designed to make energy use more rational and convenient. By centralizing services and offering practical tools, the company hopes citizens will actively adopt the platform, enjoy cost savings, and contribute to renewable energy expansion.
Korea Electric Power Corporation is South Korea’s national electric utility company. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity through subsidiaries that operate nuclear, thermal, hydro, and renewable power plants.
1. DoubleDown Interactive Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:DDI)
Stock Upside: 122.35%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 9
DoubleDown Interactive Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:DDI) is one of the best Korean stocks to buy. On February 11, DoubleDown Interactive Co., Ltd. shared its earnings for the fourth quarter and full-year 2025.
On revenue, Q4 came in at $95.8 million, up 17% year over year, but missed the consensus estimate by $4 million. Management explained that the shortfall was due to intensified competition and slowing user growth in the core social casino segment. This happened even though newer revenue streams picked up the slack, said management. For the full year, revenue grew to a record $359.9 million from $341.3 million in FY2024. Nonetheless, the core social casino business actually declined 3% year over year, and management noted that the headline growth was largely carried by acquisitions.
The quarter’s EPS was $9.72, well ahead of the $0.61 Wall Street expected. However, profit for the quarter fell sharply to $24.1 million from $35.7 million in Q4 FY2024, mainly because of a goodwill impairment charge on SuprNation, the company’s iGaming subsidiary. In this light, the large EPS beat was more a function of how analysts had modelled the impairment than of genuine outperformance, noted management.
In Keuk Kim, company CEO, stated that the blowout earnings during the quarter were the culmination of “a solid year of executing on our strategic plan of expanding our revenue across products and geographies while growing the direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenue streams.” He added that the company’s operating focus allowed them to “drive a high conversion of revenue to cash flow” which resulted in $42.8 million worth of net cash flow from operations in the December-ending quarter.
DoubleDown Interactive Co., Ltd. is a South Korean developer and publisher of digital games. Its portfolio includes casino-style games such as DoubleDown Casino, DoubleDown Fort Knox, and DoubleDown Classic, which are distributed through mobile platforms and social networks.
READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years.
Hedge Fund Resource Center