HANMI Semiconductor is weak during intraday trading on its first day of short selling. The earnings forecast for the first quarter of this year (January to March) also fell short of market expectations.
HANMI Semiconductor shares traded at 70,100 won on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) market at 9:29 a.m. on the 31st. The stock price fell by 8.37% (6,400 won) compared to the previous trading day. During intraday trading, the stock price even dropped to 68,000 won.
HANMI Semiconductor has been identified as a cautionary stock for short selling, with the proportion of its margin balance increasing by nearly 5 percentage points since the end of February. Short selling involves borrowing stocks from others to place a sell order, aiming to gain from price differences when expecting a decline in stock prices. Since it is necessary to secure the borrowed amount before short selling, the margin balance often increases beforehand.
HANMI Semiconductor expects to record a consolidated revenue of 140 billion won and an operating profit of 68.6 billion won for the first quarter of this year. This level falls short of market projections for revenue of 169.6 billion won and operating profit of 82.4 billion won.
HANMI Semiconductor also noted that the proportion of overseas clients increased to 90% in the first quarter. Some in the market speculate that this is influenced by Hanwha Vision’s supplying of TC bonders for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) manufacturing to SK hynix.