Is SK Hynix Stock a Good Buy in the US in 2026? Analysts Weigh Risks and Rewards After Nasdaq Debut
Investors weighing whether to buy shares of SK Hynix now have a new, more accessible way to do it: the South Korean memory-chip giant began trading on the Nasdaq Friday, giving U.S. investors direct access to a stock that has surged nearly eightfold over the past year on the strength of the artificial intelligence boom. But whether that access represents a buying opportunity or a chance to cash out near a peak is a question dividing Wall Street.
SK Hynix's American depositary receipts priced at $149 apiece, raising $26.5 billion in the largest-ever U.S. share sale by a foreign company, and jumped as much as 17% in their opening session. The listing capped a run in which SK Hynix's Korea-listed shares climbed roughly 222% so far this year and as much as 800% over the past twelve months, propelled by surging demand for the high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, chips that power Nvidia's AI accelerators and similar hardware from other chipmakers.
The bull case for the stock centers on SK Hynix's dominant position in that HBM market, where the company holds an estimated 56% to 58% share of global revenue, ahead of rivals Samsung and Micron. Wall Street sentiment has remained largely favorable: of 37 analysts covering the stock, 35 rate it a buy, with an average 12-month price target implying meaningful upside from current levels, according to data from Investing.com. UBS has raised its target for the Korean shares, citing revised long-term supply agreements that lock in a substantial share of expected volume and pricing for SK Hynix's memory products.
The company's recent financial results have given bulls plenty of ammunition. SK Hynix posted first-quarter revenue of roughly 52.58 trillion won, or about $38.1 billion, a........
