Samsung Electronics stock fell 9% on Monday.
Samsung Electronics stock had its worst day in three weeks on Monday as investors reacted to its shareholder-return plan, souring the mood for other memory-chip making rivals.
Samsung stock (KR:005930) fell 9%, as South Korean rival SK Hynix's (KR:000660) $(SKHY)$ stock fell 3% and Micron Technology $(MU)$ also declined by 3% in premarket trading.
Like so much in the semiconductor space, the Samsung news was not negative, but just didn't live up to expectations given its stock has surged 114% this year and 259% over the last 52 weeks.
Samsung said it would implement its largest-ever shareholder return, between 90 trillion won ($65 billion) to 110 trillion won, this year. The company said that will deliver on its commitment to return 50% of free cash flow to shareholders over three years.
Samsung said it would distribute 30 trillion won of dividends in the third quarter. The remaining shareholder return plan will be determined at its January board meeting, after 2026 results are confirmed, the company said. The plan will include both dividends and stock buybacks, it added.
JPMorgan said the lack of a buyback announcement and unchanged shareholder return amount "could be a near-term disappointment to recently elevated investor expectations." They said it's unclear why Samsung chose dividends over buybacks for this quarter.
Analysts at Citi said they expect a "robust" 30 trillion won per quarter dividend to be sustained, backed by the secular memory market outlook that's underpinned by long-term agreements.
-Steve Goldstein
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