The domestic blue-chip Samsung Electronics has been declining since the first transaction day of the new year.
As of 10:41 a.m. on the 2nd, Samsung Electronics was trading at 52,700 won, down 0.94% from the previous transaction day. This stock price trend is interpreted as the influence of lowered expectations for Samsung Electronics in the securities market.
The securities firms that published reports on Samsung Electronics that day were Samsung Securities, Daishin Securities, and Korea Investment & Securities, all of which lowered their target stock prices.
Samsung Securities lowered its target from 83,000 won to 74,000 won, Daishin Securities from 85,000 won to 78,000 won, and Korea Investment & Securities from 83,000 won to 77,000 won. This was a result of downward revisions to earnings estimates.
A researcher from Samsung Securities noted, "Samsung Electronics' operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2024 is expected to be 7.3 trillion won, which is a 28% downward revision from previous estimates," adding that it was affected by weak demand.
Shin Seok-hwan, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "Despite solid demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) and server-oriented memory, the HBM production schedule has been delayed beyond expectations," adding that, "A decline in semiconductor prices has also been observed due to weakening B2C (smartphones, PCs, etc.) demand and oversupply of legacy memory."
Cha Min-sook, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, also predicted, "In the case of HBM, while sales volume is expected to increase by over 70%, overall DRAM bit growth will fall short of guidance due to weak conventional DRAM demand."