À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Samsung Electronics Co.¡¯s share price touched 40,000 won ($35.42), the lowest since its 50:1 stock split seven months ago in midday trading on Monday, as the tech giant continues to lose its charm amid gloomy outlook for the global memory chip business.
South Korea¡¯s bellwether stock closed Monday at 40,200 won, down 1.83 percent from the previous trading session. During the day, it even fell to 40,000 won, the lowest since May 4 when the company resumed trading at 53,000 won after a three-day halt from the stock split. When it is translated into the value before the stock split, it is the lowest since March 2017.
On Tuesday, Samsung Electronics shares finished 0.12 percent higher at 40,250 won.
The company had pinned high hopes on the stock split, designed to make the country¡¯s most expensive stock more affordable to retail investors, but the stock lost growth momentum amid deteriorating market conditions. Concerns are rising over a fizzling-out of memory chip boom that had driven the record-breaking earnings streak for the company. In the third quarter this year, nearly 78 percent of its operating profit was from the semiconductor business.
Most predict the boom days for the memory chip have peaked. DRAM prices for PCs and servers already have started to head south, and market experts anticipate that the prices would fall by an additional 10 percent on average in the first quarter of 2019.
Korean securities company BNK Securities forecast the tech giant¡¯s full 2019 operating profit to dip 14.5 percent to 54.5 trillion won from the estimate for this year and sales to fall 3.8 percent to 240.1 trillion won. Park Sung-soon, a BNK Securities analyst said ¡°DRAM price already is on a downward track due to rising DRAM supply and softening chip demand from servers in the fourth quarter,¡± and forecast the global smartphone shipments would fall 6.7 percent compared to this year.
Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. also presented a gloomy outlook for Samsung Electronics, projecting its operating profit sink 4.3 percent on year to 61.65 trillion won next year. Hana Financial Investment revised down its earnings outlook to 52.6 trillion won from its earlier projection of 57.9 trillion won for full 2019.
Foreign and institutional investors have been offloading Samsung Electronics¡¯ shares amid rising uncertainties in the global economy with the ongoing trade conflict between the world¡¯s two biggest economies, the U.S. and China. According to the Korea Exchange, offshore investors who hold 52 percent of Samsung Electronics¡¯ total shares have net sold 5.02 trillion won worth shares in the company so far this year and institutional investors 3.5 trillion won.
By Cho Hee-young and Cho Jeehyun
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]