Securities firms that once competed to forecast a "10,000-point Kospi era" are now facing criticism for "belated" adjustments as they belatedly lower their outlooks.

According to the financial investment industry, Shinhan Securities lowered its target for the second-half Kospi by 2,200 points from 11,000 to 8,800 three days ago.

This downward revision comes in the wake of the recent sharp drop in the index.

DB Financial Investment suggested 5,500 as the short-term floor for the Kospi the day before yesterday.

This is less than half of the 11,700-point target it had put forward just a month ago.

In addition, most domestic securities firms had projected the upper bound of the Kospi to exceed 10,000 points within the year until early last month.

Target prices for individual stocks are also being lowered in succession.

Mirae Asset Securities lowered its target prices yesterday by about 33 percent each, dropping Samsung Electronics from 550,000 won to 370,000 won, and SK Hynix from 4.2 million won to 2.8 million won.

As reports following the stock price declines continue to emerge, investors are criticizing that "it is not a forecast, but merely a live commentary on current conditions."

Critics point out that brokerages fail to serve their predictive function by belatedly raising target prices when stocks rise and cutting them back down when they fall.

Some have also voiced opinions that the excessive optimism of analysts actually created a backlash in the stock market.

Ahead of SK Hynix's second-quarter earnings announcement, some securities firms projected operating profit to approach 80 trillion won, but the actual operating profit fell short at 60 trillion won, compounding disappointment among investors.

On the 29th of last month, the day of the earnings release, shares of SK Hynix plummeted by 9.61 percent in a single day.

(Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)