[Edaily PARK MIN Reporter] On the 23rd, Yuanta Securities Korea maintained its “Buy (BUY)” rating on SamsungElectronics(005930), stating that investors should focus on the prolonged cycle rather than concerns over a short-term slowdown in the rise of memory semiconductor prices, and raised its target price by 18.9% from 530,000 won to 630,000 won. This represents an upside potential of 128% compared to the previous trading day’s (September 22) closing price of 276,500 won.

Baek Gil-hyun, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, stated in a report published that day, “While the market is concerned about the possibility of a peak-out in 2028 due to noise surrounding new capacity expansions and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), considering HBM’s encroachment on general-purpose DRAM production capacity and the demand for high-capacity memory driven by the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) inference, the resolution of supply constraints is likely to be delayed beyond expectations.”

He added, “As the prolonged upswing leads to a structural expansion of free cash flow (FCF), the next three-year (2027–2029) shareholder return policy—scheduled to be announced in January 2027—could be further strengthened; therefore, the recent stock price correction presents a buying opportunity from a medium- to long-term perspective.”

SamsungElectronics(005930)The company’s consolidated revenue for the third quarter of this year is estimated at 212.192 trillion won, with operating profit at 99.86 trillion won. These figures represent a surge of 146.6% and 720.8%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

The semiconductor (DS) division is undoubtedly the driving force behind this earnings improvement. Yuanta Securities Korea projected that the DS division’s third-quarter operating profit would reach 100 trillion won. The analysis suggests that, driven by the full-scale launch of HBM4 sales, the average selling prices (ASPs) for DRAM and NAND rose by 18.0% and 16.0%, respectively, compared to the previous quarter, enabling the memory business division alone to generate 102 trillion won in operating profit. The non-memory (System LSI and Foundry) segment is expected to continue posting losses in the 2 trillion won range; however, when the impact of provisions for special performance bonuses is excluded and improvements in utilization rates—particularly for leading-edge processes—are taken into account, the actual loss is assessed to have narrowed significantly.

The Display (SDC) and Finished Products (DX) divisions continue to face persistent cost pressures and investment expenses. The SDC division’s third-quarter operating profit is projected to be 1.1 trillion won. Despite strong sales of foldable phones by key customers, the operating profit margin is projected to decline by approximately 2 percentage points year-over-year due to depreciation expenses (approximately 300 billion won) associated with the start of mass production of 8.6-generation IT OLED panels and pressure to lower prices, primarily from North American customers. The DX division is projected to post a total operating loss of 1.1 trillion won, driven by rising component costs: 900 billion won in the Mobile (MX) segment and 200 billion won in the Visual Display and Home Appliances (VD/DA) segment.

Yuanta Securities Korea projected SamsungElectronics’ 2026 annual revenue at 745.987 trillion won and operating profit at 358.485 trillion won. This represents a 123.6% increase in revenue and a 722.2% increase in operating profit compared to last year. Furthermore, the firm forecast that in 2027, the company will post annual revenue of 1,193.508 trillion won and operating profit of 590.492 trillion won, continuing its trend of record-breaking performance.

Analyst Baek Gil-hyun stated said, “We raised the target price to 630,000 won by applying a target price-to-book ratio (PBR) of 3.5 times to a book value per share (BPS) of 179,148 won for 2027,” adding, “The tight supply-demand conditions for memory semiconductors are expected to persist through 2027–2028, demonstrating high profitability and stable cash generation.”