[Click eStock] "Hansol Chemical, Samsung Electronics Aftershock... Earnings Recovery Expected to Slow"

Target Price Lowered to 170,000 Won

Kiwoom Securities forecasted on the 19th that Hansol Chemical's earnings recovery will be delayed more than expected. Accordingly, they maintained a 'Buy' investment rating but lowered the target price to 170,000 KRW.

Park Yu-ak, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, stated, "We expect Samsung Electronics, a major client, to reduce semiconductor capital expenditures (CapEx) in 2025."

Researcher Park explained, "We believe that DRAM will respond to 2025 demand through equipment transition from LPDDR4 to HBM3e, and foundry will respond through process transitions. Such process transitions lead to a temporary decrease in demand for semiconductor materials."

This is analyzed to act as a short-term burden on Hansol Chemical's semiconductor materials segment performance. Researcher Park added, "The foundry division of Samsung Electronics may experience a sharper decline in utilization rates in the short term than our previously conservative forecast. Considering these trends in the upstream industry, Hansol Chemical's quarterly earnings during the year-end and early-year period are expected to continue a somewhat sluggish trend."