Stock picks Buy POSCO, Sell LG Chem

Buy: POSCO

POSCO, South Korea’s biggest steel company, will increase its market share after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake damaged operations at industry rivals such as Nippon Steel Corporation, Japan’s top steel maker, says Tong Yang Securities.

Daishin securities also says that steel stocks will maintain upward momentum until June, as prices are likely to remain high until then. The economic recovery in the United States is also expected to push up prices higher.

Buy: Bixolon

Bixolon, a leading manufacturer of mini printers used at shop counters, released new models of its POS (point of sales) printers, which are receiving favorable responses in the market, says a report from Korea Investment & Securities.

Over the past five years, the company’s sales have increased by an annual average of 9 percent. The report says that the firm has large growth potential in emerging markets as well. The low-end printer of Bixolon is aimed at Chinese market, and is about 20 percent cheaper compared to ones made by Japanese rivals, it says.

Bixolon was founded in 2002 by a team of engineers from Samsung Electronics.

Sell: LG Chemical

LG Chemical is no more attractive to stock investors, says Shinhan Investment, which excluded the chemical giant from its official recommendation list last Friday.

Financial newspapers have reported that institutional and foreign investors are ditching stocks of the LG subsidiary, which also makes electric car batteries and electronics parts.

However, some brokerage houses such as Shinyoung Securities maintained their “buy” positions on the firm, saying that the nuclear situation in Japan will benefit LG Chem’s renewable energy business in countries such as China.