Equity Long-Short

Mo Aziz

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>
Two stocks explain the selling. Samsung and SK Hynix were 77% of September's foreign net selling and c.93% of January–July's. Outside them, foreigners are not leaving Korea.</li>
<li>
Timing and buyers matter. ₩102tn of the ₩135tn sold since May went in May–June; corporates bought ₩31.4tn in September. Buybacks are c.63% done and may finish by mid-October.</li>
<li>
The open question is FY27, not exports. Consensus profit sits c.24% above the Q3 run-rate. Samsung's expected 7–8 October prelims and post-buyback flows are the next tests.</li>
</ul>



Two stocks explain the selling. Samsung and SK Hynix were 77% of September's foreign net selling and c.93% of January–July's. Outside them, foreigners are not leaving Korea.

Timing and buyers matter. ₩102tn of the ₩135tn sold since May went in May–June; corporates bought ₩31.4tn in September. Buybacks are c.63% done and may finish by mid-October.

The open question is FY27, not exports. Consensus profit sits c.24% above the Q3 run-rate. Samsung's expected 7–8 October prelims and post-buyback flows are the next tests.


South Korea's Microchip Exports Are Booming. So Why Are Foreigners Still Selling Its Stock Market?

Chief Executive Officer, Emmer Capital Partners Limited

Manishi Raychaudhuri

Chief Executive Officer

Emmer Capital Partners Limited

Emmer Capital Partners is an Asia Pacific focused financial advisory firm engaging in strategic financial asset allocation advice, bespoke thematic research and advising early-stage companies and connecting them to investors. Emmer Capital provides macro-economic and multi-asset investment strategy inputs to institutions, family offices, private wealth managers, private equity, and corporate boards directly and through independent research platforms. Emmer Capital also advises a wide range of startup companies on fund raising and business strategy. Emmer Capital's active engagement with the print and electronic media reaches a broad spectrum of investors across the globe.

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>In late May we argued that Asia was fully valued and awaited correction. That correction has happened over past two months with Asia's forward PE declining from 15.1x to 12.7x.</li>
<li>Some markets have corrected more and have had significant EPS upgrades. These markets should catch up with their earnings trajectory, Korea and Onshore China in particular. HK looks undervalued too.</li>
<li>Indonesia, though affected by governance-related concerns and fiscal worries, seems cheaper than the headwinds warrant. Other Asian markets are in "no man's land": not too expensive, not egregiously cheap either.</li>
</ul>


In late May we argued that Asia was fully valued and awaited correction. That correction has happened over past two months with Asia's forward PE declining from 15.1x to 12.7x.
Some markets have corrected more and have had significant EPS upgrades. These markets should catch up with their earnings trajectory, Korea and Onshore China in particular. HK looks undervalued too.
Indonesia, though affected by governance-related concerns and fiscal worries, seems cheaper than the headwinds warrant. Other Asian markets are in "no man's land": not too expensive, not egregiously cheap either.


Asian Equities: Valuations Look Interesting Again, Forward Earnings Outstripping Several Markets

Technology / Semiconductor / Internet Research

Nicolas Baratte

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Record quarter, record year. 2025 was shaped by Volume growth (bit growth) * Mix change (more high ASP stuff like HBM, less commodity) * the beginning of ASP increase. </li>
<li>In 2026: Volume accelerates (new capacity, higher density products), hence Mix improvement will continue (blended ASP up). The new element is broad shortages leading to price increase. </li>
<li>Consensus is forecasting 70% revenue growth in ’26, 19% in ’27. 70% is ok, 19% will depend on the tightness or shortage situation – but it’s easy to see upside.   </li>
</ul>


Record quarter, record year. 2025 was shaped by Volume growth (bit growth) * Mix change (more high ASP stuff like HBM, less commodity) * the beginning of ASP increase. 
In 2026: Volume accelerates (new capacity, higher density products), hence Mix improvement will continue (blended ASP up). The new element is broad shortages leading to price increase. 
Consensus is forecasting 70% revenue growth in ’26, 19% in ’27. 70% is ok, 19% will depend on the tightness or shortage situation – but it’s easy to see upside.   


SK Hynix (SKH): Record Quarter, Record Year, Record Outlook

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Douglas Research Advisory

<ul>
<li>SK Hynix achieved record high results in terms of sales and operating profit in 2025, fueled by growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. </li>
<li>SK Hynix announced that it plans to cancel 15.3 million treasury shares, representing 2.1% of its outstanding shares (728 million) to enhance shareholder value.</li>
<li>SK Hynix announced that it plans to establish an AI solutions company (tentatively named "AI Co") in the United States and invest up to US$10 billion (14.3 trillion won).</li>
</ul>


SK Hynix achieved record high results in terms of sales and operating profit in 2025, fueled by growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. 
SK Hynix announced that it plans to cancel 15.3 million treasury shares, representing 2.1% of its outstanding shares (728 million) to enhance shareholder value.
SK Hynix announced that it plans to establish an AI solutions company (tentatively named "AI Co") in the United States and invest up to US$10 billion (14.3 trillion won).


SK Hynix: Record Results, Cancellation of Treasury Shares, & Start of an AI Solution Co in the US

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

<ul>
<li>Chips &amp; Memory is now the largest theme in active Global funds, at 9.70% of the average portfolio versus 8.96% for Hyperscalers.</li>
<li>AI Build-out accounts for 24.4% of the average fund, well ahead of AI Adoption at 14.7%.</li>
<li>Ownership is spreading into memory stocks, but both leading themes remain underweight the benchmark. Rising exposure does not represent a uniform buying wave</li>
</ul>


Chips &amp; Memory is now the largest theme in active Global funds, at 9.70% of the average portfolio versus 8.96% for Hyperscalers.
AI Build-out accounts for 24.4% of the average fund, well ahead of AI Adoption at 14.7%.
Ownership is spreading into memory stocks, but both leading themes remain underweight the benchmark. Rising exposure does not represent a uniform buying wave


South Korea

SK Hynix Inc. provides products and services for the electronic components industry. The Company manufactures semiconductors, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), NAND flash memory, and static random access memory (SRAM) chips.

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SK Hynix (000660 KS)

South Korea's Microchip Exports Are Booming. So Why Are Foreigners Still Selling Its Stock Market?

Record chip exports, record foreign selling. The gap closes once you see who sold, when, and who bought: two stocks, mostly before exports peaked,...

Mo Aziz

Asian Equities: Valuations Look Interesting Again, Forward Earnings Outstripping Several Markets

Asia's correction over last 2 months has drawn fwd PE lot lower than long-term avg. KR, CN & HK seem set to rerate as markets need to catch up with...

Manishi Raychaudhuri

SK Hynix (SKH): Record Quarter, Record Year, Record Outlook

2025 saw record growth driven by volume and mix changes, with ASP increase beginning. 2026 expected to see continued volume growth, mix...

Nicolas Baratte

SK Hynix: Record Results, Cancellation of Treasury Shares, & Start of an AI Solution Co in the US

SK Hynix achieved record high results in terms of sales and operating profit in 2025, fueled by growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI)...

Douglas Kim

The AI Build-Out Reshapes Global Funds

Chips & Memory has overtaken Hyperscalers as the largest theme in active Global funds. We examine the shift towards AI Build-out, growing memory...

Steven Holden

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South Korea's Microchip Exports Are Booming. So Why Are Foreigners Still Selling Its Stock Market?

Record chip exports, record foreign selling. The gap closes once you see who sold, when, and who bought: two stocks, mostly before exports peaked,...

Mo Aziz

Asian Equities: Valuations Look Interesting Again, Forward Earnings Outstripping Several Markets

Asia's correction over last 2 months has drawn fwd PE lot lower than long-term avg. KR, CN & HK seem set to rerate as markets need to catch up with...

Manishi Raychaudhuri

SK Hynix (SKH): Record Quarter, Record Year, Record Outlook

​2025 saw record growth driven by volume and mix changes, with ASP increase beginning. 2026 expected to see continued volume growth, mix...

Nicolas Baratte

SK Hynix: Record Results, Cancellation of Treasury Shares, & Start of an AI Solution Co in the US

SK Hynix achieved record high results in terms of sales and operating profit in 2025, fueled by growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI)...

Douglas Kim

The AI Build-Out Reshapes Global Funds

Chips & Memory has overtaken Hyperscalers as the largest theme in active Global funds. We examine the shift towards AI Build-out, growing memory...

Steven Holden

2025 saw record growth driven by volume and mix changes, with ASP increase beginning. 2026 expected to see continued volume growth, mix...