[Edaily Reporter Kim Kyung-eun ] On the 4th, KB Securities maintained its “Buy” rating and target price of 600,000 won for SamsungElectronics(005930), citing expectations for additional shareholder returns within the year.

Kim Dong-won, Head of Research at KB Securities, stated in a report released that day, “Based on shareholder returns over the past three years, we expect additional shareholder returns—such as share buybacks and cancellations, as well as cash dividends—within the year using the remaining 80 trillion won in funds after the third-quarter cash dividend.” The firm also noted that the upcoming 2027–2029 shareholder return policy, to be announced in the future, is likely to propose a return policy exceeding 50% of free cash flow (FCF).

KB Securities projected that, assuming 110 trillion won in remaining funds from the recent three-year shareholder return plan, the company could distribute a total of 70 trillion won in cash dividends—30 trillion won in the third quarter and 40 trillion won in the fourth quarter—and repurchase and cancel 40 trillion won worth of its own shares. The firm explained that, assuming the application of separate taxation on dividend income and compliance with the 25% dividend payout ratio requirement, the scale of cash dividends would expand to around 70 trillion won, and the remaining funds could be used for share buybacks and cancellations. It projected that the dividend yield based on cash dividends in the second half of the year would exceed 4%.

Improved earnings were also seen as a factor supporting the rise in stock prices. SamsungElectronics’ operating profit for the second half of the year was estimated at 221 trillion won, a 587% increase year-over-year. With 104 trillion won projected for the third quarter and 117.3 trillion won for the fourth quarter, the average quarterly operating profit is expected to exceed 100 trillion won. The firm also predicted that the company would set new record earnings for five consecutive quarters, starting from the fourth quarter of last year.

Operating profit for the DEVICE (DS) division this year is estimated at 366 trillion won, a 1,370% increase year-over-year. The annual average selling prices (ASPs) for DRAM and NAND are expected to rise by 279% and 278%, respectively.

The firm also predicted that the memory supply shortage would persist until at least 2028. Following U.S. hyperscalers such as Google and Amazon, major Chinese companies including Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are increasingly demanding five-year long-term supply agreements (LTAs). Structural constraints—such as the fact that it takes more than three years from the completion of a new memory production line to full-scale mass production—were cited as a key factor behind the prolonged supply shortage.

Head Kim stated, “If plans for additional shareholder returns within the year and a strengthened three-year return policy are finalized, improved earnings and large-scale shareholder returns will converge, leading to the strongest stock revaluation phase in 10 years—since the company began paying quarterly dividends in 2017.”