SK Telecom’s stock rose 12% on Tuesday, propelled by renewed market attention on the value of its minority stake in Anthropic. The rally drove the share price to $26.93, above the company’s previous 52-week high of $25.24. Separately, valuation models indicate the stock may trade below intrinsic value based on Fair Value estimates from InvestingPro.
Anthropic investment and implied valuation
In 2023 SK Telecom invested $100 million in Anthropic, the company behind the AI assistant Claude, acquiring an initial stake of roughly 0.7%. That ownership is expected to have been diluted in later funding rounds. Recent reports have suggested an implied valuation for Anthropic near $350 billion, and applying ownership assumptions of 0.1% to 0.5% produces an estimated range for SK Telecom’s stake value between 500 billion won and 2.5 trillion won.
Those estimated holdings would represent about 3% to 17% of SK Telecom’s current market capitalization of $9.09 billion, a scale that has encouraged market speculation over how realization of that value might affect the company’s capital allocation and returns to shareholders.
Dividend profile, liquidity and market expectations
Investors have observed that any monetization of the Anthropic stake would depend on Anthropic’s path to an initial public offering and the associated timing and liquidity conditions. In the meantime, SK Telecom provides a 4.27% dividend yield and has maintained dividend payments for 33 consecutive years, according to InvestingPro. Market commentary has centered on the potential for proceeds from the AI stake to underpin shareholder returns should those funds become available.
UBS analyst Sohyun Park maintained a Neutral rating on SK Telecom with a price target of 52,000 won. Park noted that investor expectations also include the possibility of quarterly dividends resuming in the fourth quarter after a skip in the third quarter, contingent on an earnings recovery. The company’s next earnings release is scheduled for February 11.
Market context
The sharp move in SK Telecom’s share price reflects a reassessment by market participants of the company’s assets tied to the AI sector and their potential balance-sheet implications. While the Anthropic valuation assumptions have supported the stock’s momentum, actual monetization and its timing remain linked to future corporate and market events.