South Korean Broker's 'Below-Expectations' Forecast Triggers 12% Plunge in SK Hynix, Putting Pressure on Entire Storage Sector
South Korean brokerage KIS released a forecast for SK Hynix's Q2 2026 earnings, predicting operating profit of 60.4 trillion won, up 556% year-over-year. However, this figure was about 8% below the market consensus of 65 trillion won. The shortfall was attributed to SK Hynix's high proportion of HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) revenue. HBM is typically sold under long-term agreements (LTAs) with fixed prices, which limited the company's average selling price (ASP) growth compared to the soaring spot market prices for standard DRAM and NAND. KIS emphasized this was a methodological adjustment to include LTA pricing, not a fundamental deterioration, and maintained its buy rating and 3.8 million won target price.
Nevertheless, the report triggered a sharp market sell-off. SK Hynix's stock plunged over 12%, falling below 2 million won and extending its pullback from recent highs. The sell-off spread to related assets: leveraged ETFs tracking SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell sharply in Hong Kong, and A-share memory stocks also declined.
Analysts note the incident highlights market sensitivity to earnings misses versus high expectations. However, KIS argues the long-term investment thesis remains intact, with the industry shift toward LTAs potentially leading to more stable, sustained profitability rather than volatile quarter-to-quarter ASP gains.
链捕手07/13 06:32
