Stock Deep Dive · 2026-07-31
SK hynix (000660) closed at ₩1,718,000, up 29.95% on the day. Year-to-date return is +164.4%, sitting at 54% of its 52-week range. Earnings for the quarter were reported on 2026-07-28 (EPS ₩131,478 vs ₩70,975 consensus, +85%). Listed in Seoul — for USD-based investors, KRW moves add an FX layer on top of the stock’s local return.
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Close
₩1,718,000
+29.95% · YTD +164.4%
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Market Cap
₩1,219.53T
Semiconductors
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Forward P/E
3.8x
PER 16.2x
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52-wk Range
54%
High ₩2,987,000 · Low ₩245,000
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🔍 At a Glance
SK hynix has been the poster child of Korea’s AI-memory boom: revenue up 198% YoY last quarter, an eye-popping 58.6% operating margin, ROE near 93%, and a stock up 164% YTD (+29.95% on the latest session alone). Bulls point to a forward PER of just 3.8 and PEG of 0.3, implying earnings are expected to grow into the price rapidly. Bears note the shares are down 32.9% over the past month, sit 18.5% below the 60-day moving average, and trade at a lofty PBR of 10.1 — a reminder that memory cycles can turn violently, and much AI-optimism may already be priced in.
🏢 How It Makes Money
SK hynix designs and manufactures memory chips — DRAM (server, mobile, graphics, PC), NAND flash, SSDs, and MCP modules — plus a smaller foundry business for non-memory chips. Its fortunes are tightly linked to AI server buildouts (via Nvidia and hyperscaler demand for high-bandwidth memory) and the broader PC/mobile/auto memory cycle, making revenue highly cyclical but currently supercharged by AI infrastructure spending.
📈 Quarterly Results — Is Business Growing?
| Quarter | Revenue | Op. Income | Net Income | Op. Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25Q1 | ₩17.64T | ₩7.44T | ₩8.11T | 42.2% |
| 25Q2 | ₩22.23T | ₩9.21T | ₩7.00T | 41.4% |
| 25Q3 | ₩24.45T | ₩11.38T | ₩12.60T | 46.6% |
| 25Q4 | ₩32.83T | ₩19.17T | ₩15.22T | 58.4% |
| 26Q1 | ₩52.58T | ₩37.61T | ₩40.33T | 71.5% |
Latest-quarter revenue up +198.1% versus the same quarter a year ago.
💡 Korea Market 101
⚖️ Valuation — Cheap or Expensive?
| Metric | Value | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 16.2x | Price vs last 12 months’ earnings |
| P/E (forward) | 3.8x | Price vs next 12 months’ expected earnings — growth hopes baked in |
| P/S | 9.2x | Price vs revenue — for high-growth names with thin profits |
| P/B | 10.1x | Price vs book value — below 1x means priced under liquidation value |
| PEG | 0.3x | P/E ÷ growth — near 1 is fair for the growth; above 2 is demanding |
| EV/EBITDA | 6.1x | Enterprise value (incl. debt) vs cash generation |
Peer comparison
| Name | Mkt Cap | P/E | Fwd P/E | P/S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SK hynix | ₩1,219.53T | — | 3.8x | 6.4x |
| SamsungElec | ₩1,723.72T | — | 4.0x | 4.4x |
| Micron Technology, Inc. | $987.84B | 16.7x | 5.7x | 10.9x |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufactur | $2,091.76B | 32.9x | 18.7x | 0.5x |
💡 Korea Market 101
🎯 Street Consensus
- Price target (mean): ₩3,179,718
- Target high / low: ₩5,300,000 / ₩1,200,000
- Implied upside: +85.1%
- Rating: Strong Buy (1.4/5)
- Analysts covering: 37
- Last earnings: 2026-07-28 — reported
💡 Korea Market 101
📉 Price Action — Technical Check
| Indicator | Value | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| RSI (14d) | 39.3 | Above 70 overbought · below 30 oversold |
| vs 60-day MA | -18.5% | Above/below the medium-term trend |
| vs 200-day MA | +46.3% | Above/below the long-term trend |
| Golden/death cross | 50-day above 200-day (bullish alignment) | 50-day MA crossing above (golden) or below (death) the 200-day |
| Volume (vs 20d avg) | 1.6x | 2x+ means a spike in market attention |
💡 Korea Market 101
📰 Recent News
- SK Hynix shares surge 25%, while Samsung soars over 20% as AI rally roars back — CNBC
- South Korea’s ‘bipolar’ stock market: meltdowns, a record rally and what’s to come — CNBC
- Korean Stocks Jump Record 15% on Renewed AI Trade Optimism — Bloomberg.com
- SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won Reportedly Makes First-Ever Purchase Of SKHY Shares — Wall Street Expects Stock To More Than Double — Yahoo Finance
- Brokerages split on targets for SK hynix shares after chipmaker misses Q2 market consensus — Korea JoongAng Daily
- Nvidia Partner SK Hynix Misses Q2 Sales Target But Profit Surprises — Investor’s Business Daily
How to read these headlines
The common thread is a broad Korean AI-rally (Samsung and SK hynix both surging over 20%) layered atop company-specific volatility — a Q2 sales miss offset by a profit beat, and SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won’s first-ever personal share purchase signaling insider confidence. Together these suggest sentiment and index-level AI enthusiasm are currently driving price swings as much as fundamentals, which is worth confirming against actual HBM order flow before the October print.
Headlines are credited to their publishers — click a headline to open the original article. The commentary is written by this site and does not represent the views of any publisher.
💡 Korea Market 101
🔭 Scenarios & What to Watch
Watch the next earnings release on 2026-10-27 for confirmation of AI-driven demand durability. Key variables: whether HBM/DRAM pricing holds up, NAND utilization trends, and whether the stock can reclaim its 60-day moving average (currently -18.5%) after the recent pullback. Analyst targets range widely (₩1.2M to ₩5.3M, average ~₩3.18M) — a spread that itself signals uncertainty about how far the AI cycle runs versus a memory oversupply risk.
💡 Korea Market 101
📚 All stock analysis · More on SK hynix · Market report for this session
Stock report · published 2026-07-31 16:00 KST
For information only — a summary of public data, not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Source data (Yahoo Finance and others) may be delayed or contain errors. All investment decisions are your own responsibility.
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