[Click eStock] "SK Hynix, Sustains HBM Superiority... Target Price Up"

On the 10th, Korea Investment & Securities raised its earnings forecast for SK Hynix due to HBM competitiveness and also increased the target stock price to 240,000 KRW. The investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy.'

Researchers Min-sook Chae and Jun-tae Hwang stated, "Considering the EPS increase and the shift in the estimation period for 2024 and 2025, we have raised the 12MF BPS. We also reflected the increase in HBM volume and price rise, and considering the strong sales of enterprise solid-state drives (SSD), we have raised the earnings estimates for the subsidiary Solidigm."

The two researchers explained, "Since the recovery of IT set demand is slow, the overall increase in DRAM and NAND volume is not significant, but as the sales proportion of high value-added products such as HBM and enterprise SSD increases, the average selling price (ASP) rises, which is expected to result in strong performance."

They observed that HBM products are expected to maintain an advantage over competitors through this year.

The two researchers explained, "The latest HBM product currently in mass production is HBM3. SK Hynix completed HBM3 certification for Nvidia in October 2022 and is currently mass-producing and selling it," adding, "The next-generation product, HBM3e, completed certification in March 2024 and has started mass production and sales."

They continued, "Customers begin purchasing components and proceed with initial builds even before the new product launch to secure safety stock in advance. Therefore, being selected as the primary supplier according to the customer's certification schedule is advantageous in all aspects, including securing sales volume. Thus, regardless of competitors' certification status, we believe SK Hynix can maintain its advantage at least through HBM3e."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.