Samsung Electronics Preferred Shares Outpace Common Stock on Buyback Hopes

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.

1. Samsung Electronics Preferred Shares Gain 15% While Common Stock Rises 9% on Dividend and Cancellation Hopes

Key summary: Samsung Electronics preferred shares surged 15.34% in September, outpacing common shares at 9.00% by 6.34 percentage points. Over the past three months, common shares fell 19.52% while preferred shares declined just 2.01%, showing notable downside resilience. Samsung Electronics plans total shareholder returns of 90 trillion to 110 trillion won this year, with about 30 trillion won earmarked for third-quarter cash dividends and the remainder to be used for cash dividends and treasury stock purchases and cancellations. Securities analysts estimate the dividend per share at 4,500 to 4,654 won. Because preferred shares trade at a lower price than common shares, the same dividend translates into a higher yield. Life Asset Management has proposed to the board that preferred shares be used first for purchases and cancellations, and analysts said whether preferred shares are used in the cancellation process could serve as an additional factor in the stock's direction.

2. Chuseok Cash Investing: "Semiconductor and Dividend ETFs Worth Holding Long Term"

Key summary: South Korea's five largest asset managers all presented semiconductor-related ETFs as Chuseok investment recommendations, citing structurally rising demand from the spread of AI. Samsung Asset Management selected RISE Global AI NAND Memory Semiconductor and SOL Semiconductor Front-End; Mirae Asset chose HANARO U.S. AI Memory Semiconductor TOP 4+; Shinhan picked KODEX U.S. CPU Semiconductor TOP 10; and KB selected KODEX AI Semiconductor TOP 2 Plus. In the dividend category, three managers jointly recommended ACE U.S. Dividend Quality, with expectations that demand could concentrate on stocks offering dividend growth and earnings visibility ahead of the year-end dividend season. K-beauty (TIGER Cosmetics), AI infrastructure (KODEX U.S. AI Optical Communication Network, HANARO Power Equipment Investment) and dollar bonds (ACE U.S. Dollar Short-Term Bond Active) were also cited as alternatives for portfolio diversification.

3. Semiconductor Exports and Capital Investment Drive Growth as OECD Lifts Korea Forecast by 2 Percentage Points in Six Months

Key summary: The OECD put South Korea's economic growth forecast for this year at 3.7%, up 1.1 percentage points from 2.6% in June and the largest upgrade among G20 nations. The Asian Development Bank also raised its Korea growth forecast the same day, to 3.2% from 2.6%, while the Bank of Korea (3.3%) and the Korea Development Institute (3.2%) had already lifted their projections. Rising semiconductor exports and expanding capital investment were assessed as the key drivers of growth, reflecting a view that the chip cycle will continue into next year. The OECD, however, raised its consumer price inflation forecast for this year to 3.0% and flagged higher energy prices and the possibility of further increases in long-term government bond yields as downside risks, prompting calls to watch the balance between growth expectations and inflationary pressure.

4. China Probes DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, Sending Chinese AI Stocks Lower

Article link: https://www.sedaily.com/article/20094707?ref=sedailyEng

Key summary: Chinese AI-related stocks fell together on the Hong Kong exchange — Zhipu AI down 12%, MiniMax down 6.8% and Alibaba down 5% — after the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a data security investigation into DeepSeek and Moonshot AI. The probe reportedly stems from the possibility that sensitive information from Chinese military, police and corporate users was exposed to the U.S. side as the two companies processed requests through AI models from U.S.-based Anthropic. China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is also said to be conducting a full review of the number of Broadcom switches installed at state-run data centers, part of a strengthening policy stance encouraging a shift to domestic semiconductors and AI equipment. Analysts said that heightened scrutiny of China's AI industry could slow model development and limit market access for foreign companies.

5. 268 Trillion Won in Short-Term Debt Matures This Year, Raising Refinancing Risk

Key summary: Short-term financial securities with remaining maturities of less than 89 days that come due this year total 268.34 trillion won, or 70.6% of total outstanding issuance, and commercial paper, short-term bonds and asset-backed commercial paper maturing this month alone amount to 181 trillion won. Corporate funding raised through commercial paper and short-term bonds came to 12.1 trillion won from January to July this year, up 37.5% from a year earlier and the highest level since 2022, with the share of short-term funding expanding rapidly, led by credit card companies. With major central banks including the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan raising rates in succession, there are concerns that companies and financial firms heavily dependent on short-term funding could face surging borrowing costs and deteriorating liquidity when they refinance. Differentiation by credit rating is also deepening, with short-term borrowing accounting for well over 50% of funding at BBB-rated companies, prompting growing calls to strengthen monitoring of lending to vulnerable industries.

6. Goodai Global, Musinsa and Megazone: Large KOSPI Listings Prepare to Launch

Key summary: Expectations for a recovery in the initial public offering market are growing as companies valued in the trillions of won line up for KOSPI listings, including global beauty platform Goodai Global (expected market capitalization of up to 15 trillion won), cloud managed service provider Megazone Cloud (more than 5 trillion won) and fashion platform Musinsa (up to 10 trillion won). A decision on SFC's approval by the listing committee is expected at the end of this month, while Musinsa and S-Tec System are targeting market debuts early next year. Unlike most of this year's new listings, which raised only tens of billions of won, the KOSPI candidates ahead are pursuing offerings of up to trillions of won, raising the prospect that funds in the market will flow into the IPO market. Affiliates of large conglomerates such as HD Hyundai Robotics and LS MnM are also reviewing their listing strategies, raising the possibility that the IPO pipeline will gradually thicken.