![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/news-g.v1.20260513.b4636df4fdef4309a6a89208f166fb4a_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"SK")
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SK hynix (000660.KS) shares have surged far faster than Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), pushing its forward price-earnings ratio (PER) above that of its larger rival for the first time ever. Samsung Electronics, whose stock has been weighed down by unprecedented strike risks, is now seeing its status as the KOSPI’s top blue chip called into question.<\/p>\n
According to the Korea Exchange on Thursday, SK hynix climbed 7.68% to close at 1.976 million won, hitting a new all-time high of 1.99 million won during the session. Samsung Electronics ended 1.79% higher at 284,000 won. Over the past month, SK hynix returned 78.68% compared with Samsung Electronics’ 35.44%, more than double the latter.<\/p>\n
As a result, the two companies’ 2026 forward PERs have flipped. According to financial data provider FnGuide, based on Thursday’s closing prices, the 2026 forward PER stood at 6.77 times for Samsung Electronics and 6.79 times for SK hynix, with SK hynix ahead by 0.02 points. It marks the first time SK hynix has surpassed Samsung Electronics on forward PER. Three months ago, the figures were 8.08 times for Samsung Electronics and 5.28 times for SK hynix \u2014 a gap of 2.80 points \u2014 which narrowed to 5.70 times and 4.66 times a month ago.<\/p>\n
The annual forward PER divides the current share price by expected annual earnings per share (EPS), indicating how a stock is priced against projected results. A higher ratio suggests overvaluation, while a lower one signals undervaluation. SK hynix shares had historically been regarded as undervalued relative to earnings, but investor expectations for the two companies have now converged.<\/p>\n
The 12-month forward PER, which measures the share price against expected earnings over the coming year, stood at 5.8 times for Samsung Electronics and 5.1 times for SK hynix as of Tuesday, but the gap is believed to have narrowed further given recent divergent share-price performance. Based on Thursday’s close, market capitalizations were 1,660.34 trillion won for Samsung Electronics and 1,408.30 trillion won for SK hynix, a difference of 252 trillion won.<\/p>\n
The outcome is disappointing for Samsung Electronics. Both companies have seen earnings outlooks and share prices rise quickly on the memory boom, but the improvement in earnings forecasts was actually greater at Samsung Electronics. According to FnGuide, Samsung Electronics’ full-year EPS consensus for this year has jumped 102.15% over the past three months, from 20,763 won to 41,972 won. SK hynix’s EPS estimate rose 78.76% over the same period, from 162,776 won to 290,980 won. While the “denominator” \u2014 the earnings outlook \u2014 was revised up more sharply for Samsung Electronics, the “numerator” \u2014 the share price \u2014 has climbed faster at SK hynix.<\/p>\n
Securities analysts say the premium Samsung Electronics had long enjoyed as Korea’s top company is fading. After SK hynix pre-empted the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market and overtook Samsung Electronics in operating profit last year, the perception of SK hynix as relatively undervalued has been erased, they say.<\/p>\n
Unlike SK hynix, which wrapped up performance-pay negotiations with its union last year, Samsung Electronics faces strike risk \u2014 another burden on the stock. On Thursday, JPMorgan said it estimates the impact of Samsung Electronics’ wage hike on operating profit at a minimum of minus 7% to a maximum of minus 12%. The market expects Samsung Electronics and SK hynix shares to move at similar paces only after the union risk is resolved.<\/p>\n
“The disappearance of Samsung Electronics’ stock premium, viewed the other way, means the valuation re-rating of SK hynix is complete,” a securities industry official said. “With earnings and valuations of the two companies now on the same level, it will be difficult for SK hynix to continue posting gains more than twice as large as Samsung Electronics’ going forward.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SK hynix (000660.KS) shares have surged far faster than Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), pushing its forward price-earnings ratio (PER)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[11192,699,335,3990,276,279,241,240,275,11193],"class_list":{"0":"post-15309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sk","8":"tag-forward-per","9":"tag-hbm","10":"tag-kospi","11":"tag-memory-chips","12":"tag-samsung-electronics","13":"tag-semiconductor-stocks","14":"tag-sk","15":"tag-sk-group","16":"tag-sk-hynix","17":"tag-valuation-re-rating"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}