South Korean chip behemoths Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. have seen their share prices shoot up this month on rosy forecasts for their earnings, data showed Friday.
The price surge, which comes after their shares went south early this year on worries that the chip industry has peaked and would face weak offseason demand, has sent shares of chip components and equipment makers rising in tandem.
According to the data from the Korea Exchange, Samsung Electronics, the world's top memory chipmaker, jumped 9.52 percent in the first 15 days of March from the end of last month, with SK hynix basking in a 16.67 percent spike.
Samsung Electronics fell 2.08 in January before surging 5.69 percent in February, and SK hynix climbed 4.49 percent last month after falling 3.92 percent the previous month.
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(Yonhap) |
In particular, Samsung Electronics leaped a combined 4.06 percent on Tuesday and Wednesday, recovering to the 2.5 million-won ($2,344) level for the first time in 1 1/2 months. SK hynix finished at a new high of 90,700 won Wednesday.
In step with their price surges, makers of chip components and equipment also saw their share prices jump in recent sessions.
Shares of Unisem, a leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer, skyrocketed 18.24 percent in the last four trading sessions alone.
The recent surge in chip shares stems from eliminated fears over an industry slowdown as DRAM prices have maintained their uptrend in the first quarter, which is usually deemed an offseason for the sector.
That has prompted market analysts to revise up their forecasts of the two chip giants' earnings for the January-March period.
As of Thursday, the market consensus for Samsung's first-quarter operating income stood at 14.58 trillion won, while that for SK came to 4.36 trillion won. Both figures inched up from estimates a week earlier.
Market watchers also offered a rosier outlook for SK's full-year earnings. The market consensus of SK's operating income for all of 2018 has been upgraded to 17.84 trillion won from 17.43 trillion won a month earlier.
Some analysts, however, are conservative about the chip industry's business down the road.
"The recent rise in DRAM prices results from a bottleneck in the supply chain rather than a recovery in demand," said Yoo Jong-woo of Korea Investment & Securities Co. "If the price upturn lasts under the current situation, demand could weaken further." (Yonhap)
