Top investors scale back buying in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, broaden into semiconductor equipment and batteries [Top 1% Investors’ Picks]

[Financial News] Investors with the highest returns kept Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix among their top net purchases, but scaled back the intensity of their buying. Instead, they broadened their targets to include semiconductor equipment stocks such as Jusung Engineering and battery stocks such as Samsung SDI and SK Innovation Co., Ltd.■ Semiconductor-sector momentum spreads to component and equipment stocksAccording to Kiwoom Securities’ “Detailed Trading Status of Top-Performing Clients (the 25,000 clients with the highest returns over the previous three months),” released on the 11th, SK Hynix was the stock most heavily bought on a net basis by top-performing investors from the 6th to the 8th, with net purchases totaling 57.2 billion won. Samsung Electronics followed with 54.1 billion won. The two stocks drew a combined 111.3 billion won. In the previous week (September 28 to October 2), SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics also ranked first and second in net purchases, respectively. Net purchases of the two stocks then totaled 304.2 billion won, meaning the intensity of net buying fell to about one-third of that level.
However, buying targets among semiconductor-related stocks broadened. Samsung Electro-Mechanics ranked third in net purchases at 17.7 billion won, while Jusung Engineering came in fourth at 8.7 billion won. SK Square, at 6.4 billion won; LG Electronics, at 4.3 billion won; LG Innotek, at 3.3 billion won; and Simmtech, at 2.9 billion won, also ranked among the top net purchases. Whereas top net-purchased semiconductor stocks had been concentrated in SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and HANMI Semiconductor Co., Ltd., buying this time also spread to front-end equipment, substrates and component stocks.
Jeong Woo-seong, a researcher at LS Securities, said of Jusung Engineering, “Investment in leading-edge DRAM by SK Hynix and the expansion of production capacity at China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) are continuing,” adding that “increased investment in high-k atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment, driven by process miniaturization, is also a growth factor.”■ Buying targets expand to battery stocksTop investors also added battery value-chain stocks, including Samsung SDI at 7.8 billion won, SK Innovation Co., Ltd. at 7.1 billion won and POSCO Future M at 2.5 billion won. Moving beyond portfolios focused almost exclusively on AI semiconductors, they also bet on rising demand for energy storage systems (ESS) and the possibility of improved conditions in the refining industry.
Joo Min-woo, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said of Samsung SDI, “As AI data centers expand, demand for energy storage systems (ESS) in North America is rising rapidly,” adding, “It needs to be revalued not simply as an electric vehicle battery maker but as a power infrastructure company.” Hwang Kyu-won, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, forecast that strong conditions in the refining and lubricant businesses would partly offset the burden of SK Innovation Co., Ltd.’s battery business. Top investors’ strategy of maintaining their conviction in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix while diversifying risk into equipment, components and batteries is becoming more pronounced.
Other stocks among the top 15 in net purchases included Hyundai Motor (3.5 billion won), Doosan Enerbility (3.1 billion won), LS ELECTRIC (2.4 billion won) and NAVER (2.4 billion won).
[email protected] Han Young-jun Reporter