"Finally, Samsung Electronics over SK hynix"…Retail investors who had been suffering cheer

Samsung Electronics' market capitalization has surpassed 1,000 trillion won for the first time ever. This is the first time a single stock on the Korean market has topped 1,000 trillion won in market cap. Its year-to-date share-price gain has also overtaken that of SK hynix.

On the 4th, Samsung Electronics closed up 0.96% at 169,100 won on the Korea Exchange. It rose as much as 1.13% intraday to 169,400 won, setting a new all-time high. As a result, its market capitalization exceeded 1,001 trillion won, marking its first entry into the 1,000-trillion-won range.

Year-to-date performance also shows Samsung Electronics ahead of SK hynix. Samsung Electronics has surged 41.03% so far this year, outperforming SK hynix over the same period (38.25%). From last year through last month, Samsung Electronics had consistently lagged SK hynix in share-price gains, but sentiment has shifted this month.

The brokerage community is also rolling out a string of upbeat assessments of Samsung Electronics. Morgan Stanley, which had been bearish on the memory-chip market, on the 30th of last month raised its target price for Samsung Electronics to 210,000 won from 170,000 won, and lifted its target for SK hynix to 1.10 million won from 840,000 won. For this year's operating profit, it presented forecasts of 245 trillion won for Samsung Electronics and 179 trillion won for SK hynix. For 2027, it projected operating profit of 317 trillion won for Samsung Electronics and 225 trillion won for SK hynix, respectively—profitability on par with U.S. Big Tech.

A head of equity management at an asset manager said, "Stocks tend to surge when earnings turn around (shift to growth) or when a company that has been battered by headwinds resolves those headwinds," adding, "For Samsung Electronics, the brokerage consensus for next year's operating-profit growth rate is higher than SK hynix's, and foundry and high-bandwidth memory (HBM)—previously cited as weak spots—have also entered a growth phase."

On the day, global credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings also projected that Samsung Electronics' credit metrics would strengthen on expanding semiconductor demand.

S&P said, "We expect Samsung Electronics to deliver solid performance over the next 1–2 years," adding, "Strong demand for the memory semiconductor segment, a high-margin, high-growth business, is expected to underpin a sharp rise in profitability."

It added, "Given that Samsung Electronics is the largest supplier in the commodity memory market while also expanding its HBM business, this market environment is likely to help improve the company's overall operating performance."

Maeng Jin-gyu maeng@hankyung.com