From Bloomberg via The Edge, Malaysia, January 7:
A stock rally that has added US$350 billion (RM1.42 trillion) in market value for Samsung Electronics Co since the start of last year may have more room to run as bullish analysts eye record profits.
Its shares are beating those of SK Hynix Inc so far in 2026, after three years of stark underperformance as the smaller rival gained favour with key customer Nvidia Corp. Now expectations of progress in artificial intelligence (AI) along with huge price hikes for memory chips are driving calls that “Samsung is back”.
Samsung shares rose as much as 4% on Wednesday after Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang highlighted a “completely unserved” market for AI data storage. The gains came just a day ahead of a preliminary earnings report on Thursday, which is expected to show quarterly profit more than doubled.
“Samsung was at a discount because it was left behind,” said Kang DaeKwun, the chief investment officer of Life Asset Management Inc. in Seoul. “But I see a lot of catching up happening this year,” said Kang, whose fund has maximised its exposure to Samsung heading into 2026.
Analysts polled by Bloomberg estimated that Samsung’s earnings will more than double in 2026 to a record high of about US$60 billion, on a par with projections for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). Still, the South Korean firm’s market capitalisation of US$560 billion is less than half that of TSMC, Asia’s most valuable company....
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