NH Investment & Securities said on the 15th that as Samsung Electronics' stock price rises, the structure in which nonfinancial equity value accounts for most of the corporate value is deepening for Samsung Life Insurance. It kept its investment opinion at Buy and raised the target price by 7.7% to 4.5 million won. Samsung Life Insurance closed the previous trading day at 3.855 million won.
NH Investment & Securities projected that the stock price linkage between Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Electronics will remain fixed for the time being. That is because the value of Samsung Electronics equity (8.5%) held by Samsung Life Insurance has expanded sharply as a share of total corporate value.
For Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Electronics' solid results, dividends, and rising stock price were assessed as clearly positive factors. With Samsung Life Insurance's core business—especially insurance profit and loss—stagnant without a clear growth momentum, the increase in equity value and dividend income translates into a rise in Samsung Life Insurance's overall corporate value.
However, this can be a double-edged sword. Jeong Jun-seop, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said, "It is a powerful driver of share gains when Samsung Electronics is in a rising phase, but when Samsung Electronics' stock undergoes a correction, it can act as a direct downward pressure."
The key will likely be how Samsung Life Insurance uses the special dividend from Samsung Electronics that it is scheduled to receive in 2027. The special dividend is a one-off, but its size far exceeds annual recurring profit. As a result, depending on how it is used, Samsung Life Insurance's shareholder value and medium- to long-term corporate value in the financial division could vary greatly.
Jeong said, "The special dividend should lead to returns to Samsung Life Insurance shareholders and reinvestment for the future, and only if the level and direction are reasonable enough for shareholders to accept can it result in a meaningful increase in corporate value in the financial division."
NH Investment & Securities forecast that Samsung Life Insurance will announce a value-up policy by March 2027 at the latest, before the shareholders' meeting, and expected related details to be included at this shareholders' meeting.