Yu Jin Investment Securities evaluated that Samsung Electronics is expected to have poor performance in the fourth quarter of this year and that profit growth will be difficult next year. They maintained their investment opinion as "buy" but lowered the target price from 77,000 won to 75,000 won, a decrease of 2.6%.
Yu Jin Investment Securities predicted that Samsung Electronics will achieve sales of 76.3 trillion won and an operating profit of 7.9 trillion won in the fourth quarter. Lee Seung-woo, a researcher at Yu Jin Investment Securities, noted, "Due to weak demand for smartphones and PCs, along with geopolitical uncertainty following the inauguration of the Trump administration, the semiconductor inventory correction will continue, and the fourth quarter bit growth will record a negative figure, while significant losses in the non-memory division are also expected to persist."
Next year's situation is also expected to be challenging. Yu Jin Investment Securities forecasted that the DRAM market will see single-digit growth while the NAND flash market will experience single-digit decline. Consequently, they estimated that Samsung Electronics' operating profit for 2025 will only reach 33.3 trillion won.
The researcher stated, "In line with the downward adjustment of the performance estimates, I lower the target price-to-book ratio (PBR) to 1.25 and adjust the target price to 75,000 won."
However, the researcher said, "The current stock price is at a PBR level of 0.9, and given that share buybacks are underway, the downside for the stock price is limited," and added, "Expectations for a recovery in the market conditions in the second half of next year are possible."
The researcher remarked, "This year was truly a critical moment for Samsung Electronics. The situation in 2025 does not seem easy either," and emphasized, "Whether Samsung can recreate its past strong presence through diligent efforts and careful scrutiny of the situation will be a more important variable for the recovery of the stock price."