Korean stocks estimated to have made stunning performance in the fiscal second quarter that ends in June are favorites by foreign investors who have turned picky amid growing risk for a correction in the main index flirting around historic highs following the U.S. interest rate hike.

Foreign investors net purchased 100 billion won ($89 million) worth shares of Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. (Daewoo E&C), and Coway Co. between May 12 and June 13, while selling a net 7.6 billion worth in Samsung Electronics Co. during the same period.

Samsung Electronics is expected to stun the market with its second-quarter performance that is widely believed to be a record high of from 11.7 trillion won to 14 trillion won, which would be up as much as 60.4 percent from 8.1 trillion won year-ago figure.

Four among listed members expected to generate operating income of more than 100 billion won are presumed to have outperformed Samsung Electronics’ staggering gain in the second quarter. They are Daewoo E&C, Coway, LG Display Co., and SK Hynix Inc.

LG Display is estimated to deliver 20-fold surge in the second-quarter operating profit. The company that dominates the global large-sized display market has benefited from spike in panel prices.

Water purifier rental leader Coway is expected to generate 917 percent jump in its second quarter profit. Sales of air purifier rentals soared from fine dust pollution.

SK Hynix that commands the second largest share in the global dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip market after Samsung Electronics will benefit from the ongoing boom in chip business and expect to clock profit at 2.87 trillion won, a six-fold expansion from the year-ago number.

Daewoo E&C also expects to generate 88.2 percent growth in second-quarter profit of an estimated 199.5 billion won. The company whose housing revenue commands 35 percent of its total sales will be selling 27,000 new apartments this year.

By Moon Il-ho

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]