SK Square (402340.KS) shares topped 2.2 million won in premarket trading Tuesday, lifted by the rally in SK hynix (000660.KS).
As of 8:27 a.m., SK Square was trading at 2.23 million won on Nextrade (NXT), up 13.20% from the previous session. The gain was attributed to SK hynix surpassing the "3-million-nix" mark in premarket trading Tuesday, after overtaking Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) the previous day to claim the top spot in market capitalization based on common shares.
SK Square is the largest shareholder of SK hynix, holding approximately a 20.5% stake. Under this structure, as SK hynix's corporate value rises, SK Square's net asset value (NAV) increases as well. The prevailing analysis is that as SK hynix shares have recently surged, investment demand has shifted toward SK Square, which carries relatively less price burden.
Securities firms are also paying attention to the possibility of further gains in SK Square. NH Investment & Securities (005940.KS) sharply raised its target price for SK Square to 2.7 million won from 1.1 million won in a recent report.
"The share price gains of SK hynix, which accounts for an overwhelming portion of SK Square's net asset value, are continuing," said Ahn Jae-min, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities. "As demand from investors seeking high returns by maximizing the semiconductor weighting in their investment assets is added, SK Square's corporate value is rising in tandem."
Kim Hoe-jae, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "As SK hynix's earnings rise, the inflow of dividends to SK Square will expand. If SK hynix carries out share buybacks and cancellations, this is expected to lead to either a rise in SK Square's share price or a cash inflow."
