Citigroup: Raises SK Hynix's target price to 1.7 million Korean won, expecting a 426% year-on-year increase in first quarter operating profit.

Citibank released a report, forecasting SK Hynix's first-quarter operating profit to be 3.91 trillion Korean won, up 104% from the previous quarter and up 426% from the previous year, driven by the increase in memory prices in the first quarter of this year and continued support from HBM sales. The pricing of 64GB server DDR5 DRAM is expected to remain strong until the second half of the year. The bank believes that the demand for HBM and long-term supply contracts for commodity memory will continue to increase profit visibility and reduce cyclicality. In order to reflect the continuous upward trajectory of DRAM and HBM demand and the ongoing structural transformation of the memory market, Citibank reiterated its "buy" rating on SK Hynix, raising the target price from 1.55 million Korean won to 1.7 million Korean won.