SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chipmaker, saw its market cap vault 10 notches over the past year to rank 18th worldwide, as the South Korean tech giant has continued to build up gains on a rosy earnings outlook, data showed Sunday.
Samsung's market cap reached US$301.65 billion as of Thursday, up $95.08 billion from Jan. 2, 2019, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.
Over the cited period, Samsung, also the world's largest smartphone maker, rallied 51 percent to close at 58,600 won Thursday. On Friday, the tech giant reached a fresh all-time high of 59,500 won.
Foreign investors have scooped up Samsung shares by snatching up a net 627 billion won this month to Friday, betting that the tech firm's earnings will improve down the road.
The median target price for Samsung was put at 67,900 won as of Friday.
In its earnings guidance last week, Samsung Electronics delivered estimate-beating fourth-quarter earnings on a slight recovery in chip prices, although it suffered its worst performance in four years in 2019 due to a prolonged slump in the chipmaking sector.