Samsung's market value rises 96 tln won in 6 months: data

SEOUL, July 11 (Yonhap) -- The market value of Samsung Group, South Korea's No. 1 business conglomerate, rose by 96 trillion won (US$83.5 billion) in the past six months helped by the strong performance of Samsung Electronics Co., industry data showed Tuesday.

The market cap of 16 firms affiliated with the business group surged 26.35 percent to 460.5 trillion won as of Monday from 364.4 trillion won tallied at the end of last year, according to the figures by market researcher FN Guide.

Samsung Electronics Co. took the largest share with an increase of 64.4 trillion won to 317.9 trillion won from 253.5 trillion won.

Individual stock prices of the world's largest producer of smartphones and memory chips climbed to 2.43 million won as of Monday from 1.8 million won as of the end of last year.

The South Korean tech giant said last week its second-quarter operating profit jumped 72 percent on-year to a record-high 14 trillion won.

Analysts said Samsung has beat Apple Inc. and other leading global firms in terms of earnings. Samsung estimated its second-quarter sales at 60 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics accounts for 21.2 percent of the KOSPI main bourse, while Samsung Group as a whole constitutes 30.8 percent of the total value of the main bourse and the tech-heavy KOSDAQ markets.

Market analysts forecast a further rise in the market cap of Samsung Electronics for the time being.

Kim Yong-ho of Hana Financial Investment said Samsung Electronics will likely post 61.5 trillion won in sales and 14.9 trillion won in earnings in the third quarter of this year buttressed by a surge in sales of memory chips.

Hana set the target price of Samsung Electronics stocks at 3 million won, up from the previous 2.8 million won.

NH Investment & Securities also raised the comparable figure to 3.1 million won, predicting Samsung Electronics will produce more than 60 trillion won in annual operating profits next year and emerge as the world's biggest company in the global chip market.

Macquarie Securities Group, meanwhile, retained its target price for Samsung Electronics shares at 3.1 million won, saying, "The market has been underestimating the ability of Samsung Electronics to produce profits."

Macquarie estimated the third quarter earnings of Samsung Electronics at 15.6 trillion won.

hdh@yna.co.kr
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