The Race That Can't Keep Up: How Analysts Repriced Samsung and SK Hynix
In a few weeks this spring, Korea's analysts rewrote their targets on Samsung and SK Hynix — ₩3.8M on Hynix, ₩850K on Samsung — and still the stocks ran ahead of them. A map of the sell-side board. Informational only.
TL;DR — In the space of a few weeks this spring, Korea's analysts tore up their models on Samsung and SK Hynix and started writing numbers that would have looked absurd a year ago — a ₩3.8 million target on Hynix, ₩850,000 on Samsung. The AI-memory boom has become the rarest thing on a trading desk: a story where the stock keeps outrunning the people paid to forecast it. (Informational, not advice.)
There is a moment in every boom when the analysts stop arguing about whether it's real and start arguing about how high. Korea's memory giants reached that moment this spring. We gathered every recent price target on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — who, how much, when — to map just how far the sell-side has run.
Methodology & disclaimer
Compiled from analyst reports and market aggregators as of June 18–19, 2026 (sources linked throughout). For each brokerage we show its most recent target from April–June 2026; we exclude pre-April figures, which the rally has left far below the share price (e.g., Morgan Stanley's January Samsung target of ₩210,000 is now a fraction of spot). "vs. spot" is the implied move from the current price. Korean sell-side ratings on both names are near-universally Buy/매수 (a "—" means the rating wasn't stated in the cited report). This is a compilation for information only — not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell. Targets here change almost weekly, and several already lag the stock.
The board, at a glance
| Metric | Samsung Electronics (005930) | SK Hynix (000660) |
|---|---|---|
| Share price (~Jun 19) | ₩355,000 | ₩2,776,000 |
| Market cap | ~₩2,303T | ~₩1,902T |
| Consensus target (mean) | ~₩427,000 | ~₩2,690,000 |
| Street high | ₩850,000 (Susquehanna) | ₩4,000,000 |
| Street low | ₩205,000 | ₩1,030,000 |
| Analysts | ~37 | ~38 |
| Consensus vs spot | ~+20% | ~−3% (spot above mean) |
| 52-week range | ₩57,600–374,500 | ₩242,000–2,891,000 |
SK Hynix (000660): the targets
| Brokerage | Target | vs. spot | Rating | Date (2026) | KR/Intl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KB Securities | ₩3,800,000 | +37% | Buy | May 29 | KR |
| Shinhan Investment | ₩3,800,000 | +37% | Buy | May 28 | KR |
| Mirae Asset | ₩3,800,000 | +37% | Buy | May 27 | KR |
| NH Investment | ₩3,200,000 | +15% | Buy | Jun 8 | KR |
| Eugene Investment | ₩3,200,000 | +15% | — | May | KR |
| JPMorgan | ₩3,000,000 | +8% | Overweight | May 18 | Intl |
| SK Securities | ₩3,000,000 | +8% | Buy | May 7 | KR |
| Macquarie | ₩2,900,000 | +4% | Outperform | May 14 | Intl |
| iM Securities | ₩2,760,000 | -1% | — | May | KR |
| Hana Securities | ₩2,750,000 | -1% | — | May | KR |
| Hyundai Motor Securities | ₩2,650,000 | -5% | — | May | KR |
| Daishin Securities | ₩2,500,000 | -10% | — | May | KR |
| Susquehanna | ₩2,500,000 | -10% | Positive | Jun 1 | Intl |
| Nomura | ₩2,340,000 | -16% | Buy | Apr 25 | Intl |
| Daol Investment | ₩2,100,000 | -24% | — | Apr 24 | KR |
| LS Securities | ₩2,100,000 | -24% | — | May 11 | KR |
Samsung Electronics (005930): the targets
| Brokerage | Target | vs. spot | Rating | Date (2026) | KR/Intl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Susquehanna | ₩850,000 | +139% | Positive | Jun 1 | Intl |
| SK Securities | ₩610,000 | +72% | Buy | Jun 1 | KR |
| Nomura | ₩590,000 | +66% | Buy | May 18 | Intl |
| Mirae Asset | ₩550,000 | +55% | Buy | May 27 | KR |
| CLSA | ₩540,000 | +52% | Buy | Jun 2 | Intl |
| KB Securities | ₩530,000 | +49% | Buy | May 27 | KR |
| NH Investment | ₩530,000 | +49% | Buy | Jun 8 | KR |
| Goldman Sachs | ₩480,000 | +35% | Buy | Jun 1 | Intl |
| JPMorgan | ₩480,000 | +35% | Overweight | May 18 | Intl |
| Citi | ₩460,000 | +30% | Buy | May 12 | Intl |
| Daol Investment | ₩350,000 | -1% | Buy | Apr 8 | KR |
| Korea Investment | ₩330,000 | -7% | Buy | May | KR |
The race that can't keep up
The numbers tell a story analysts rarely admit to: they're behind. In mid-May, KB Securities valued SK Hynix at ₩2.0 million; two weeks later, ₩3.8 million — and even that street-high, shared with Shinhan and Mirae Asset, sits above a consensus mean (₩2.69M) that the share price (₩2.78M) has already left behind. When the average target is below the stock, the forecasters aren't leading the market; they're chasing it.
What changed isn't the math but the frame. The sell-side stopped treating memory as a cycle to be timed and started treating it as a structural re-rating. KB's Kim Dong-won told clients the shortage runs "for at least the next two years through 2028." NH's Ryu Young-ho went further: "Strong memory demand and structural changes in the industry in the AI era could lead to a re-rating of memory companies." The proximate cause is concrete — in early June, Nvidia certified both Korean makers for its Vera Rubin HBM4 platform, with Hynix taking the lion's share and a record 72% operating margin to match.
The one genuine disagreement is which giant wins next. Susquehanna's ₩850,000 call on Samsung — the boldest on the board — is really a bet against Hynix's lead: Samsung, it argues, "is highly likely to move ahead of SK hynix in the next-generation HBM4 market." It's the closest thing to dissent in a market with, remarkably, no sell ratings at all.
FAQ
What's the highest target on each stock?
SK Hynix: ₩3,800,000 (KB, Shinhan, Mirae Asset — late May). Samsung: ₩850,000 (Susquehanna's Mehdi Hosseini, June 1).
Why does SK Hynix trade above its average target?
Because the rally has outpaced the analysts. Many targets were set in April–May and the stock has since made new record highs, leaving the consensus mean (~₩2.69M) just under the ~₩2.78M price — a lag, not a warning.
What's fueling all the upgrades?
An AI-driven shortage in HBM and DRAM that analysts now expect to last into 2028, surging "agentic AI" compute demand, HBM prices forecast to roughly double year-over-year, and Nvidia's HBM4 certifications.
Does Wall Street prefer Samsung or SK Hynix?
Both carry Strong Buy consensus. The notable split is Susquehanna favoring Samsung on its HBM4 capacity edge while capping Hynix's upside — a preference, not a pessimistic call.
Should I buy based on this?
No — this is a sourced snapshot of analyst opinion as of mid-June 2026, for information only. Targets shift constantly and some already trail the price; do your own research and consult a licensed advisor.
Sources: analyst targets and revisions from Seoul Economic Daily (KB → ₩3.8M Hynix, NH agentic-AI raises), Investing.com, KED Global; prices and consensus from stockanalysis.com and MarketScreener.
Image: Inductiveload, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
← Back to all posts