KB Securities said on the 12th that Samsung Electronics has entered a full-fledged earnings cycle phase, and a re-rating is expected alongside earnings growth. It maintained its "Buy" recommendation and raised the target price to 320,000 won from 240,000 won. The previous trading day's closing price for Samsung Electronics was 190,000 won.
Kim Dong-Won, an analyst at KB Securities, said, "While demand for DRAM and NAND is rising quickly, supply expansion is expected to remain limited through 2027," and added, "The uptrend in memory prices is expected to continue for the time being."
KB Securities raised its 2026 DRAM price growth estimate to 148% year over year and its NAND price growth estimate to 111% year over year.
Accordingly, it estimated Samsung Electronics' first-quarter operating profit at 40 trillion won, up sixfold from a year earlier. It expects second-quarter operating profit to be 51 trillion won, up elevenfold year over year, and said an earnings surprise is likely.
Kim added, "First-quarter operating profit in the memory division is expected to be 38 trillion won, up elevenfold from a year earlier, and even a single quarter's results are likely to surpass last year's annual memory operating profit of 32 trillion won."
With the recent sharp improvement in inference artificial intelligence (AI) performance and the potential commercialization of physical AI in preparation for artificial general intelligence (AGI) in 2030, demand drivers are expected to continue. Kim said, "The spread of inference AI and physical AI will expand data processing and storage demand for various edge devices such as robots and autonomous driving, and this will serve as structural factors for increasing memory semiconductor demand."
Kim continued, "We judge that Samsung Electronics' memory semiconductor volumes will be virtually sold out through 2027, and we estimate that global big tech companies are also expanding discussions on five-year long-term supply agreements (LTA) targeted through 2030," adding, "We believe the company is in the early phase where a re-rating begins alongside the full-fledged acceleration of earnings growth."