[E-Daily Reporter Kim Hyung-il ] NH INVESTMENT & SECURITIES forecast that SKSQUARE(402340)could see a stock price rebound following the announcement of SK hynix(000660)’s shareholder return policy, amid continued positive conditions in the semiconductor industry. While maintaining its “Buy (BUY)” investment rating, the firm lowered its target price from 2.7 million won to 2.28 million won.

On the 18th, Ahn Jae-min, an analyst at NH INVESTMENT & SECURITIES, stated, “While the semiconductor market outlook remains positive, the stock price has undergone a correction due to concerns over SK hynix’s operating profit peaking out,” adding, “Concerns that the rise in memory prices under Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) will be limited are excessive.”

He continued, “Given the explosive growth of neo-cloud companies such as Nebius and CoreWeave, which recently announced their earnings, demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure remains robust,” adding, “We expect investment sentiment across the entire semiconductor sector to recover quickly once SamsungElectronics and SK hynix disclose their shareholder return policies.”

He also highlighted the potential for a rebound in SKSQUARE’s stock price, which is linked to that of SK hynix. Analyst Ahn explained, “Considering that SKSQUARE’s stock price showed greater elasticity relative to SK hynix’s during the recent rally, we expect SKSQUARE’s stock price to recover at a steeper pace during a rebound.”

Regarding the target price downgrade, Analyst Ahn explained, “We raised the discount rate relative to net asset value (NAV) from 25% to 40% to reflect the recent one-month price correction of SK hynix, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of SKSQUARE’s NAV.”

He projected that the shareholder return policy would continue. SKSQUARE paid a dividend of 1,500 won per share, totaling 204.3 billion won, in June 2026, and plans to repurchase 40 billion won worth of its own shares in 2026 and 70 billion won worth in 2027.

Analyst Ahn stated, “SK hynix’s enhanced shareholder return policy is expected to be announced at the time of the third-quarter earnings release,” adding “If SK hynix’s dividend per share (DPS) increases to 13,600 won, SKSQUARE will generate approximately 2 trillion won in dividend income, which it will use to actively pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of promising companies in the semiconductor value chain,” he predicted.