Yeosu-do financial sector analysts have maintained or upgraded their investment opinions on related stocks, confirming the industry's strong upward momentum. In particular, SK Hynix recorded an exceptional quarter, surpassing expectations significantly. Consequently, Daol Investment Securities raised its price target from 1.6 million KRW to 2.1 million KRW. Following record-breaking sales and operating profits that exceeded consensus, the market has focused on the forecast that prices in the general-purpose memory market will rise by 100%. Industry experts anticipate that average selling prices will likely exceed forecasts in the next quarter as well, with additional growth of 40% to 50% deemed feasible.
The backdrop of this performance boom is a structural factor: supply constraints caused by a shortage of memory semiconductor production facilities are not expected to be resolved until the second half of next year. The surge in computing power driven by rapid AI advancements is expected to continue for the next 2–3 years, leading to long-term supply-demand imbalances. From a stock analysis perspective, the sector exhibits about a six-month leading characteristic, making visibility clear from now until year-end. Even two quarters later, confidence in investments can be sustained until the first half of next year, and new growth drivers such as HBM 4 and SOCAMM 2 are expected to be added in the second half, suggesting a powerful leading indicator of an "unbearable without buying" level.
On the other hand, LG Innotek has firmly established its status as a substrate manufacturer. Samsung Securities expects quarterly operating profits to come in at a level 9.3% higher than expected, citing the retention of shipments from major mobile customers as the primary background. In particular, revenue from the company's core business, RF-SiP, is accelerating, and profitability in the automotive sector remains robust. Increases in customer shipments and widespread substrate shortages translate directly into revenue growth, with estimated sales growth of 14 trillion KRW and 18 trillion KRW for this year and next year, respectively. Profitability in the smartphone business has passed the bottom, moving beyond simple normalization to show revenue growth driven by market share expansion among key customers, maintaining a relatively resilient trend amidst competitors' production adjustments.
Samsung E&A and Lotte Fine Chemical are also gaining attention for their unique strengths. Hyundai Capital Securities noted that Samsung E&A is continuously securing order opportunities related to reconstruction projects in the Middle East and new energy such as LNG, earning top-pick status in the industry. The decline in advanced industry revenue is due to temporary settlement delays, and the sales timeline is expected to be accelerated by additional orders for the P-5 plant. Lotte Fine Chemical was re-evaluated as a hidden beneficiary of the semiconductor boom, based on its No. 1 global production capacity for TMAC, a semiconductor plating material. The company changed its price target calculation method from PBR to SOTP and re-evaluated operating value by business segment; summing the values of key divisions such as Chemicals, Green Materials, and TMAC resulted in an upward revision of the price target to 100,000 KRW.