[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] SKSecurities announced on the 30th that it is maintaining its “Buy” rating and target price of 1.85 million won for SKSQUARE(402340).

Choi Kwan-soon, an analyst at SKSecurities, stated, “More than 98% of SKSQUARE’s net asset value consists of its stake in SK hynix(000660). While SK hynix’s stock price rose 17.7% following its share buyback, SKSQUARE’s stock price rose 11.4%,” he said. “Since SK hynix’s share buyback and cancellation not only increases the value of SKSQUARE’s holdings but also raises its ownership stake, SKSQUARE’s stock price is likely to react positively once the treasury shares are canceled,” he analyzed.
SK hynix, a subsidiary of SKSQUARE, plans to buy back 40 trillion won worth of its own shares (24.07 million shares) from August 20 to November 19 of this year. As of the previous day (the 29th), it had completed the purchase of 17.15 million shares, representing 71.3% of the planned purchase volume. If this trend continues, the share buyback is expected to be completed around mid-October.
Analyst Choi stated, “The shares are scheduled to be repurchased and then canceled; once the cancellation is complete, SKSQUARE’s stake in SK INICS Corporation will rise from 20.0% to 20.7%,” adding “SK hynix’s projected free cash flow (FCF) for 2026 is 164 trillion won; if 50% of that is returned to shareholders, the funds available for shareholder returns—excluding the 40 trillion won spent on the share buyback—will amount to 42 trillion won,” he explained.
He added, “If the remaining funds for shareholder returns are paid out entirely as dividends, SKSQUARE’s ownership stake will be 20.7% following the cancellation of SK hynix’s treasury shares;
SKSQUARE’s dividend income would amount to 8.7 trillion won,” he added. “Last March, SKSQUARE announced a policy to return at least 30% of its ordinary dividend income from 2026 to 2028 to shareholders. Even assuming a conservative 30% rate, SKSQUARE’s dividend funds would total 2.6 trillion won.”
He further noted, “At the annual shareholders’ meeting earlier this year, SKSQUARE transferred 5.89 trillion won from its capital reserve to retained earnings to secure distributable profits. Since this amount will be included in distributable profits after March 2027, when the 2026 financial statements are finalized, an expansion of SKSQUARE’s shareholder returns is expected.”