[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] IBK Investment & Securities announced on the 30th that it is maintaining its “Buy” investment rating and target price of 4 million won for SK hynix(000660).

Kim Un-ho, an analyst at IBK Investment & Securities, stated, “We expect the record-high quarterly earnings to continue through the end of the year. We assess the second-quarter 2026 earnings as strong and in line with market conditions,” he said. “Although the consensus has risen due to excessively high expectations, this is the result of errors in accurately predicting the product mix. The fact that the ASPs (average selling prices) for DRAM and NAND rose at a lower rate compared to competitors is a result of the different product mix.”

The previous day, SK hynix announced that it recorded revenue of 79.3187 trillion won and operating profit of 60.5426 trillion won in the second quarter of this year. Both revenue and operating profit reached all-time quarterly highs, with revenue increasing 256.8% year-over-year. Operating profit rose 557.2% year-over-year, and the operating profit margin stood at 76%, up 4 percentage points from 72% in the previous quarter.
However, despite these record-breaking results, the company fell short of market expectations. The figures fell slightly short of the initial second-quarter consensus (the average of securities firms’ estimates) of 83.9391 trillion won in revenue and 63.9868 trillion won in operating profit. Consequently, the stock price dropped by nearly 10%.
In response, Analyst Kim argued that the crisis the market fears will not materialize, stating, “The stock market’s interpretation of the same variables varies depending on the prevailing sentiment. This applies to oil prices, interest rates, and exchange rates alike. Semiconductor stock prices do not want to see industry conditions or earnings reports; they are overreacting to any issue that might cast even the slightest shadow on them.”
He added, “The rapid rise in stock prices is the main reason. I do not foresee earnings deteriorating as feared, because demand is not temporary and is expected to maintain an upward trend for a considerable period.” He emphasized, “Supply growth will inevitably remain limited for quite some time. It is a confirmed factor that AI investment is not a temporary phenomenon.”
Third-quarter operating profit is projected to reach 79.6 trillion won, exceeding the previous forecast. He added, “While time will tell whether these concerns are valid, we judge that there are no variables likely to alter the fundamentals, so we have revised our earnings estimates upward,” and noted, “Given the higher ROE (return on equity) and the fact that we are not in a period of recurring operating losses, there is no reason to impose valuation limits based on the PBR (price-to-book ratio) band.”