Morgan Stanley: Steep Correction in Memory Stocks is Over...Consumer Goods and Cosmetics Also Attractive for Sector Rotation | Government to Revise ISA and Stock Price Suppression Prevention Laws

Summary

Kwon Soon-woo reports on Morgan Stanley's view that the memory stock correction is over and highlights expectations for massive shareholder returns from Samsung and SK hynix. He also notes sector rotation into cosmetics and consumer goods with strong earnings, reviews Korean shipbuilders' record orders against Chinese competition, criticizes government ISA tax revisions, and contrasts Naver's aggressive AI infrastructure push with Kakao's conservative AI service focus.

• Morgan Stanley declares steep memory correction ended, sees tactical re-entry opportunity; target prices maintained for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
• Combined free cash flow of Samsung and SK hynix could exceed 300 trillion won, fueling expectations of up to 150 trillion won in shareholder returns.
• Sector rotation into cosmetics and consumer goods with solid earnings; K-beauty ETF surged 11.9% in a week.
• Korean shipbuilders hold record order backlog of over 200 trillion won, but market share is historically low versus Chinese rivals.
• Government faces criticism for reducing ISA tax benefits and poor design of stock price suppression prevention law, signaling policy U-turn.
• Naver partners with NVIDIA and Brookfield on AI Factory, expecting 20% margin; Kakao opts out of heavy AI infra, focusing on B2C services.