SK Inc. and SK Square offer a way to own underlying businesses at a holding-company discount, assuming management acts in minority shareholders' interests. SK Square's 20% stake in SK hynix has benefited from portfolio cleanup, buybacks and executive-pay alignment; its shares outperformed SK hynix over the past three years. SK Inc. trades at a massive discount to its underlying SK hynix stake. x.com  x.com 

SK Square is a discounted way to own SK hynix, one of the world's most important memory companies. Its NAV is about ₩1.8 million per share, almost all of it the SK hynix stake, while the stock trades near ₩1.0 million, a 40-45% discount. Korean holding-company discounts never fully vanish, but management now targets a discount below 30% by 2028 and is returning capital via buybacks, cancellations or dividends. The case only needs SK hynix to keep compounding and the gap to narrow slightly. x.com 

Owning SK Hynix directly beats buying SK Square for its discount. Holding companies trade below NAV for a reason: there is no good way to force an arbitrage on their assets, just as Grayscale vehicles traded below the value of their crypto. SK Square's roughly 20% Hynix stake may look worth more than the company, but that discount can persist. x.com 

SK Square could outperform SK hynix as Hynix buybacks raise its 20% ownership to 25-30% over the next few years and cash distributions let SK Square repurchase shares or buy more Hynix, potentially shrinking its 45% NAV discount. It remains the favorite memory exposure; if SK hynix doubles in 12-18 months, SK Square could gain 30-40% more than Hynix. x.com 

SK hynix's expected widening supply-demand gap makes the 2028 downcycle implied by its valuation seem impossible. SK hynix management says its shares are undervalued relative to earnings and cash flow, and that assessment rings true. x.com  x.com 

SK Square's NAV discount is overstated because the company would owe tax on its holdings. For US investors, the tax reporting implications also make it not worth owning. x.com  x.com 

SK hynix's earnings and buybacks could drive a tripling by 2027 before a re-rating, on Jonah Lupton's assumptions. Its Q3 report expects memory demand to outpace supply through 2030 as advanced processes and fab lead times constrain growth. It plans about KRW 100 trillion in FY2026 shareholder returns, including KRW 60 trillion or more in share acquisitions or cancellations; the buybacks would first reduce shares outstanding. x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com 

SK hynix's 'insane' earnings set up a sharp move higher in the shares. x.com 

SK hynix should reprice strongly because its blowout earnings make the case that memory is structurally different now. At the current earnings pace, it would earn back its entire market cap in two years; buybacks and dividends also return cash to shareholders and add to value. x.com 

SK hynix's exceptional margins and contracted capacity underpin a bullish outlook despite shares sitting around half their June high. Q3 operating margin reached 80%, up from 47% a year ago; long-term deals with 14 customers cover over half of 2027-28 capacity, and management expects demand to exceed supply through 2030. x.com