Record High
Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest memory chip provider, surpassed 2.7 million won (US$2,378.85) per share for the first time ever on October 11.
In the main market KOSPI on the same day, Samsung Electronics climbed 3.48 percent to close at 2,732,000 won (US$2,089.87). Accordingly, the company hit a new record price in 15 days that exceeds the previous record high of 2,681,000 won (US$2,362.11) on September 25.
Local stock brokerage firms released a market consensus that Samsung Electronics would record its best-ever results in the third quarter. Accordingly, its stock price is also reaching a record high before the company was set to release its preliminary earnings on the 13th. In addition, even foreign investors, which had sold Samsung Electronics shares for a while, scooped up the shares again after the Chuseok holidays largely due to robust earnings boosted by a recent semiconductor boom.
Kim Woon-ho, an analyst at IBK Investment & Securities, said, “The operating profit of the memory chip business division will continue to show a growth trend for a while and sales of organic light emitting diode (OLED) will improve from the fourth quarter.” He also said that Samsung Electronics’ operating profit in the third and fourth quarters will amount to 14.9 trillion won (US$13.13 billion) and 17.3 trillion won (US$15.24 billion), reaching a record high in a row. Kim suggested the company’s target stock price at 3.5 million won (US$3,084), which was the highest proposed by domestic securities firms.
Lee Jae-yoon, an analyst at Yuanta Securities, said, “The semiconductor business division’s strong momentum for earnings will play an important role in increasing earnings in the third quarter again. With the rise of memory chip price, the company’s operating profit in the semiconductor sector will reach a record high of 9.7 trillion won (US$8.55 billion).” He also said that the company’s earnings in the display and IT & Mobile Communications (IM) divisions would rebound and Samsung Electronics’ operating profit in the fourth quarter would reach an all-time high for a quarter at 15.9 trillion won (US$14 billion).
Daishin Securities expects that Samsung Electronics’ third-quarter operating profit in the semiconductor sector alone will surpass 10 trillion won (US$8.81 billion).
Domestic securities firms said that Samsung Electronics’ operating profit in the third quarter this year would stand at 14.3 trillion won (US$12.6 billion) on average as of the 10th, up 1.6 percent from a month earlier. They also raised the company’s estimated operating profit in the fourth quarter by 5.4 percent to 15.9 trillion won (US$14 billion).
Accordingly, stock market researchers believe that the price of Samsung Electronics shares will increase further. Securities firms’ consensus for Samsung Electronics’ target stock price was 3.09 million won (US$2,722) as of the 10th, up 4.4 percent from a month ago.
Meanwhile, the KOSPI index also hit a record high on the 11th. The KOSPI market capitalization surpassed 1,600 trillion won (US$1.41 trillion) for the first time ever. The KOSPI market also climbed 24.35 points, or 1 percent, to close at 2,458.16 on the same day.
Accordingly, the KOSPI reached a new record high in terms of both mid-session and closing prices in two and a half months after 2,451.53 on July 24. The KOSPI market cap increased by 17.11 trillion won (US$15.07 billion) to 1,600.88 trillion won (US$1.41 trillion) compared to the previous day. The figure far exceeded the previous record high of 1,593.35 trillion won (US$1.4 trillion won) on July 24.