[E-Daily Reporter Hyera Lee ] On the 6th, SamsungSecurities forecast that “ SamsungElectronics(005930)will continue to see improved earnings, driven by strong DRAM prices and stable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory.” The firm analyzed that long-term supply agreements (LTAs), price negotiations for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and expanded shareholder returns will serve as catalysts for future stock price gains. It maintained its “Buy” investment rating and a target price of 500,000 won.

Lee Jong-wook, an analyst at SamsungSecurities, stated in a report released today, “As high DRAM prices become the new norm, a virtuous cycle of increased investment, higher production, profit growth, and shareholder returns will emerge,” adding, “Since investors’ current concerns are merely noise rather than a deterioration of fundamentals, this should be viewed as a buying opportunity.”
SamsungSecurities estimated SamsungElectronics’ second-quarter revenue at 182 trillion won and operating profit at 86 trillion won. The operating profit figure is in line with market estimates (85 trillion won).
The analyst explained, “We have raised our memory operating profit forecast from 80 trillion won to 84 trillion won to reflect stronger-than-expected server DRAM prices,” adding, “We also raised our forecast for the average selling price (ASP) growth rate of general-purpose DRAM from 50% to 55% to reflect the upward trend in server DRAM prices since June, and factored in improved NAND profitability.”
However, the analyst noted that provisions for bonuses in the semiconductor division were increased. “We revised our assumption to reflect the first-quarter bonus provisions as a one-time charge in the second quarter, raising the semiconductor division’s bonus provision from 9.5 trillion won to 16.3 trillion won,” he said.
By business segment, while profitability in the Device Experience (DX) segment—which includes smartphones—is expected to continue slowing, the pace of that slowdown is projected to ease due to an increased share of high-end products and higher selling prices. The foundry business is expected to reduce its losses, increasing the likelihood of quarterly profitability in the second half of the year.
The analyst also maintained an optimistic outlook on the memory market. “While concerns regarding AI model efficiency and hyperscalers’ excess capacity have largely subsided, demand for Agent AI and AI revenue from cloud companies continues to grow steadily,” the analyst noted. “Customers are consistently demanding higher-performance HBM and high-capacity server DRAM.”
He continued, “While the pace of DRAM price increases will slow in the second half of the year, suppliers have not yet entered a full-scale capacity expansion phase,” and assessed that “SamsungElectronics’ large-scale memory investment plans and the early ramp-up of the P5 facility in Pyeongtaek demonstrate confidence in long-term demand.”
SamsungSecurities projected that SamsungElectronics’ annual operating profit will reach 372 trillion won this year and 565 trillion won next year. The analyst noted, “Rising memory ASPs in the third quarter and increased shipments in the fourth quarter will drive further profit improvement,” adding, “Next year, as memory supply and demand remain tight due to ‘bit growth’ (a slowdown in the supply growth rate) for both DRAM and NAND, it is highly likely that quarterly operating profits of over 100 trillion won will continue for more than a year.”