[Edaily Reporter Choi Jeong-hee ] “I was torn between buying more or cutting my losses, so I ended up cutting half of my position.”

HyundaiMotor(005380)Retail investors who had invested in HyundaiMotor are growing increasingly concerned. Since last month, securities firms have been successively lowering their target prices for HyundaiMotor. Foreign investors have been steadily selling off their HyundaiMotor holdings, causing the foreign ownership ratio to plummet from 36% at the beginning of the year to 24%.

According to financial information provider FnGuide Inc. on the 13th, 15 securities firms lowered their target prices for HyundaiMotor in reports published between last month and the 12th of this month. While MIRAE ASSET SECURITIES and others set the highest target price for HyundaiMotor at 840,000 won, Yuanta Securities Korea set it at 410,000 won on the 12th, resulting in a more than twofold difference in target prices among securities firms. Yuanta Securities Korea had set its target price at 570,000 won in July but lowered it to 410,000 won on that day.

HyundaiMotor’s stock price closed at [price] today, down [amount] from the previous day’s closing price of 325,000 won. The stock hit an all-time high of 783,000 won during trading on June 1, but has since fallen steadily until early August and has since been trading sideways. It has fallen to roughly half its all-time high just four months after reaching that peak.

Amid the sustained decline in the stock price, securities firms have been consistently lowering their target prices. HyundaiMotor is scheduled to announce its third-quarter earnings at the end of this month, and analysts note that its performance has fallen short of market expectations since the fourth quarter of last year.

ShinyoungSecurities estimated that HyundaiMotor’s third-quarter revenue this year would be 44 trillion won and operating profit 2.36 trillion won, representing year-over-year declines of 6% and 7%, respectively.
Moon Yong-kwon, an analyst at ShinyoungSecurities, noted, “HyundaiMotor’s operating profit has fallen short of the market consensus since the fourth quarter of last year,” adding, “While selling, general, and administrative expenses were controlled more strictly than expected, the main reason for the decline in profitability was that the gross profit margin fell short of expectations due to a drop in capacity utilization caused by sluggish auto sales and the resulting increase in fixed costs.”

ShinyoungSecurities estimated that HyundaiMotor’s capacity utilization rate, on a consolidated basis, fell from 92% in 2025 to 88% in the first half of this year and likely dropped to the low 80s in the third quarter.

Sales performance is also deteriorating. Analyst Moon predicted, “Amid intensifying competition, sluggish wholesale sales, and production disruptions caused by difficult wage negotiations, HyundaiMotor’s global sales in the third quarter likely totaled just 920,000 units, an 11% year-over-year decline.” Domestic sales are estimated to have fallen by 27%, North American sales by 8%, and sales in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region by 13% each. Sales in China are estimated to have plummeted by as much as 70%.

The third-quarter sales performance was also expected to have been affected by a full-scale strike—the first in 10 years. Shin Yun-cheol, an analyst at KIWOOM Securities, stated, “The slump in sales is attributable to strikes at the Asan and Ulsan plants in Korea during July and August. At the Asan plant, production was further disrupted by construction work to replace aging equipment,” he said. “The full-scale strike in August—the first in 10 years—led to a sharp drop in domestic plant shipments, which is expected to reduce export volumes by 16.1% year-over-year.” In fact, HyundaiMotor’s all-new Tucson model, originally scheduled for release in August, was not launched until mid-September.

The strengthening of the Korean won and the decline in the exchange rate are also seen as negative factors. Kim Yong-min, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, stated, “The decline in the exchange rate (strengthening of the Korean won) will be a greater negative factor in the fourth quarter than in the third, and next year than this year,” adding, “If we assume an average exchange rate and year-end exchange rate of 1,350 won for the fourth quarter, the impact on operating profit will be significant.”

HYUNDAI MOTOR SECURITIES lowered its target price for HyundaiMotor from a whopping 900,000 won in July to 700,000 won on the 12th. Kang Seong-jin, an analyst at HYUNDAI MOTOR SECURITIES, stated, “HyundaiMotor’s operating profit this year and next year is expected to be 9.9 trillion won and 8.9 trillion won, respectively, representing year-over-year declines of 14.1% and 9.4%.” These figures fall short of the market consensus by 11.1% and 29.7%, respectively. The firm explained that the downward revision to next year’s operating profit forecast, in particular, reflects the strengthening of the Korean won.

KB Securities has shortened the growth period, based on operating cash flow, by two years—from 2034 to 2032.

However, Analyst Kang noted, “As the era of autonomous driving comes into view, productivity innovations by the HyundaiMotor Group—such as smart factories and humanoid robots—aimed at manufacturing autonomous vehicles will become a crucial key to the survival of automakers,” adding, “The stock price, which has fallen to early-year levels, is attractive.”

Amid falling HyundaiMotor stock prices and downward revisions to target prices, selling pressure from foreign investors is intensifying. While foreign investor ownership of HyundaiMotor exceeded 35.95% at the beginning of the year, it has since dropped to 23.9% as of today. Foreign investors have been net sellers for 11 consecutive trading days through the 8th.

Shin Yun-cheol, an analyst at KIWOOM Securities, noted, “This outflow of foreign investors is historically unprecedented,” adding, “The trigger for foreign investors’ return would be expectations for new businesses or the possibility of a recovery in the core business, such as an upward revision to HyundaiMotor’s earnings per share (EPS) estimates.” He added, “If a strong growth cycle emerges based on new models such as the Tucson, Avante, and GV80 Hybrid, we can expect new inflows from foreign investors.”