Three times forward earnings, for a company on course to earn more in one quarter than most chipmakers make in a decade. That is the argument KB Securities made on Nov. 2, keeping a buy rating and a KRW 3.5M target on SK hynix.
KRW 104T in one quarter
Analyst Kim Dong-won put fourth-quarter operating profit at KRW 104T, up 441 percent from a year earlier, the first quarter above the KRW 100T line. Operating margin is seen at a record 83 percent. DRAM bit shipments rise an estimated 24 percent from the prior quarter and NAND 5 percent, with prices up and HBM4 overtaking HBM3E in the mix.
For the full years, the broker sees KRW 285T of operating profit in 2026 and KRW 470T in 2027, the latter driven by DRAM bit growth of 25 percent and prices up 40 percent, a combination that makes the fourth quarter a starting line rather than a peak.
Contracts, not spot prices, set the floor
The confidence rests on committed volume. More than half of total memory capacity for 2027 and 2028 is allocated under five-year supply agreements, and the company has said that secured agreements plus demand under active negotiation leave DRAM and HBM effectively sold out through 2029.
The second leg is the return program worth roughly KRW 100T, split between treasury-share cancellations and cash dividends, the largest in the company’s history.
The market has not agreed yet. SK hynix fell 3.46 percent on Nov. 2 in a sell-off that followed disappointing results from Amazon and Intel and hit AI-linked equities broadly. KB notes the stock sits about 50 percent below its peak.
