Hana Securities: Need to Identify 'Beneficiary Companies' Amid Tariff Pressure

As the United States' tariff policies are undermining trust in corporate earnings, there is a growing outlook that investors should focus on companies that can avoid or are exempt from tariffs.

On August 11, Lee Jaeman, a researcher at Hana Securities, stated in his report "Tariff Pressure: Which Companies Will Avoid It?" that "for domestic companies, anxiety over the imposition of tariffs is leading to downward revisions of earnings estimates, and trust is also being weakened."

According to Hana Securities, the earnings surprise ratio for the second quarter was 35%, which is higher than the average of 28%. However, third-quarter KOSPI operating profit forecasts are being revised downward for all sectors except industrials and utilities.

In light of this situation, Hana Securities suggested focusing on: ▲ increasing the proportion of industrials, which have a high correlation with rising U.S. corporate investment and profits; ▲ companies with large capital expenditures (CAPEX), high overseas sales ratios, and low inventory ratios, as these are likely to invest in the United States.

He explained, "Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also fall into this category," adding, "It is important to note the strong correlation between the CAPEX of these two companies and the profit growth rates of their value chain companies."

He further evaluated that, in the U.S. market, attention should be paid to: ▲ companies that can pass on cost burdens through price increases; ▲ companies with low inventory and CAPEX ratios relative to sales and high investment profitability. He named Nvidia, Apple, Netflix, Palantir, T-Mobile, IBM, Intuit, and Uber as relevant companies.

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