Which company has the world’s highest earnings? The answer may surprise you

Samsung recently announced an impressive third-quarter operating profit of 107.4 trillion won ($75 billion), marking a remarkable 783% increase from the previous year and a 20% rise from the prior quarter. This figure surpassed Nvidia's estimated operating profit of 97 trillion won for the same period, solidifying Samsung's position as the world's top quarterly operating profit generator.

InvestingPro KB Securities analysts affirmed their "buy" rating on Samsung, setting a target price of 600,000 won per share. They argued that the stock's current valuation did not fully account for its earnings potential, hinting at potential upside.

The brokerage predicted Samsung's fourth-quarter operating profit to be 114 trillion won, with an expected 113 trillion won coming from its memory business, encompassing dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash chips. Samsung's earnings momentum could further intensify in 2027 as prices for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), utilized in AI accelerators, continue to climb.

KB Securities anticipates a more than 100% year-on-year increase in the average selling prices for HBM, primarily driven by premium pricing for Samsung's next-generation HBM4 products. The brokerage also anticipates Samsung expanding shareholder returns via dividends and share cancellations. With 110 trillion won in resources remaining under its current three-year shareholder-return program, Samsung could distribute 70 trillion won to 80 trillion won in cash dividends and cancel shares worth 30 trillion won to 40 trillion won.

Despite Samsung's low forward price-to-earnings multiple, around four times, KB Securities considered this valuation difficult to justify given the company's strong earnings outlook and potential shareholder payouts. The brokerage views the strong returns to shareholders as a potential catalyst for a valuation re-rating.