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Brokerages late to raise target prices of major Korean stocks as Kospi rallies past 5,000

Published: 25 Jan. 2026, 15:53 Updated: 25 Jan. 2026, 16:23

Confetti fills the floor of the Hana Bank main branch after staff celebrate the Kospi surpassing the 5,000 mark for the first time during intraday trading on Jan. 22. [YONHAP]

As the Kospi rallies past expectations, brokerages are scrambling to revise their forecasts in an effort to offer what some investors are calling "hindsight predictions."

Brokerages have hurriedly raised target prices for the major stocks leading the index’s surge, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, and have revised Kospi projections that were far more cautious just a month ago.

On Friday, Kiwoom Securities raised its target price for Samsung Electronics from 170,000 won to 200,000 won (from $118 to $138), citing a sharp rise expected in DRAM and NAND prices and claiming that Samsung remains the most undervalued among the three major memory chipmakers — Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron. Samsung shares were trading at around 150,000 won on Friday.

Meanwhile, 195 analyst reports raised their target prices for Korean stocks over the past week, while only 30 reports lowered them, according to market tracker FnGuide. On Thursday, Samsung Securities lifted its target price for Hyundai Motor — which traded at 510,000 won on Friday — from 650,000 won to 850,000 won. Eugene Investment & Securities raised its target for SK hynix from 690,000 won to 990,000 won on Wednesday.

Kospi forecasts are also being raised across the board. Korea Investment & Securities recently revised the upper end of its Kospi projection band from 4,600 to 5,560, and Hana Securities from 4,650 to 5,600 — a jump of nearly 1,000 points in less than a month. Samsung Securities, Kiwoom Securities and SK Securities have all lifted their upper forecasts to above 5,200.

Critics, however, say brokerage firms are narrating, not forecasting.

The Kospi closes at 4,990.07 on Jan. 23. Numbers are shown on a digital board at Hana Bank main branch in Jung District, central Seoul. [YONHAP]

“The repeated upward revisions in earnings expectations for the top two chipmakers are directly driving changes in this year’s Kospi outlook,” said Kim Yong-gu, an analyst at Yuanta Securities. "If Samsung Electronics and SK hynix post operating profits of 145 trillion won and 130 trillion won respectively, a leap to the 6,000 mark may also be within reach.”

Brokerages say earnings are rising faster than anticipated. But critics argue that analysts are reacting rather than forecasting — eroding their value to investors. Others point to structural limitations, as brokerages are often financially linked to the firms they cover.

“It’s hard to cut target prices or issue sell reports when brokerages are competing to underwrite bonds for the same companies,” said one industry official.

Investor trust is also shifting. Many retail investors are turning to YouTube over brokerage reports for stock information.

“It’s hard to find a single bearish note in those reports,” one investor said. “I bought based on a report and the stock just kept falling. How can you trust that?”

Still, investors need to take caution. While brokerage reports are vetted through internal compliance, platforms like YouTube are not.

“Brokerage reports go through internal review, but YouTube content is unregulated,” said one analyst. “Investors need to be careful.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG SEO-YUN [[email protected]]