The most net-bought stocks by high-return investors trading through Mirae Asset Securities on Wednesday morning were Samsung SDI (006400.KS), Kia (000270.KS), LG Display (034220.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS), in that order.
According to Mirae Asset Securities, Samsung SDI was the most heavily bought stock as of 11 a.m. by "stock super-experts" — the top 1% of investors by return over the past month among the brokerage's trading clients.
Samsung SDI shares were down about 4.80% as of 11 a.m. The buying is interpreted as a bargain-hunting move, with investors stepping in after the share price fell despite expected gains from energy storage systems (ESS).
Samsung SDI is seen as well-positioned to benefit from expanding ESS demand. "ESS demand is so strong that even companies with insufficient production capacity can win orders," said Cho Hyun-ryul, analyst at Samsung Securities. "Companies with mass-production experience are securing orders more quickly."
Many secondary battery stocks have underperformed for an extended period due to the chasm in the electric vehicle market. Against this backdrop, expectations are emerging that Samsung SDI could engineer a turnaround as it enters the U.S. ESS market. Power consumption at U.S. data centers is indeed rising rapidly. According to energy research firm BloombergNEF (BNEF), U.S. data center power consumption is projected to more than double from 180 terawatt-hours (TWh) last year to 391 TWh by 2030.
Kia ranked second. The gap between Kia and Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) within the Hyundai Motor Group has widened to its largest level in five years on the stock market. Analysts say Kia's share price still has nearly 70% upside.
Brokerages note that the gap between Kia and Hyundai Motor has widened to its largest in years. According to Kiwoom Securities, the last time Kia's market capitalization fell below 50% of Hyundai Motor's was in the second half of 2020. That means the market cap gap between the two automakers is at a five-year high. The same applies to price-to-earnings (PER) ratios. According to Korea Investment & Securities, Kia has historically traded at a 15% to 20% discount to Hyundai Motor on a PER basis.
The market consensus is that the recent widening of this gap is excessive. Given that Hyundai Motor is leading the group's physical artificial intelligence (AI) business strategy, a wider discount than in the past is inevitable. But Kia is also co-investing in physical AI and is structured to share in the benefits. Considering Kia's solid fundamentals as well, a discount of more than 50% versus Hyundai Motor is seen as excessive.
LG Display came in third. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected to visit Korea this week and meet LG Group Chairman Kwang-mo Koo to discuss expanded cooperation on physical AI. Discussions on cooperation with affiliates including LG AI Research, LG Innotek and LG Uplus are also reportedly on the table, which is interpreted as the reason buying interest concentrated on related stocks.
Mirae Asset Securities compiles trading data from the top 1% of its clients by return over the past month and discloses it on its mobile trading system (MTS) on a real-time, previous-day and recent five-day basis. The statistical data is simply informational guidance unrelated to Mirae Asset Securities' views and does not guarantee investment outcomes or returns suited to individual investors. Investors should also be cautious as theme-related stocks can be subject to abnormal volatility.
