Samsung Electronics Anticipates Operating Profit of 10 Trillion Won in Q3... Driven by Home Appliances and Semiconductors

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Expectations are rising that Samsung Electronics will record an 'earnings surprise' in its third-quarter results this year. Analysts anticipate strong performance in the set business, including smartphones and home appliances, in the third quarter, along with the positive spillover effects from U.S. sanctions against Huawei, China's largest telecommunications equipment company.

According to financial information firm FnGuide on the 4th, the consensus among securities firms for Samsung Electronics' third-quarter operating profit stands at 10.2603 trillion KRW, a 31.9% increase compared to the same period last year (7.7779 trillion KRW).

Experts expect that pent-up demand for home appliances and smartphones, suppressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was concentrated in the third quarter. In particular, demand, which was sluggish in North America and Europe during the first half of the year, increased, leading to strong performance in premium TVs and new home appliances.

Seungwoo Lee, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, predicted, "Samsung Electronics' Consumer Electronics (CE) division's operating profit will reach 1.2 trillion KRW, surpassing the 1 trillion KRW achieved in the first quarter of 2016, setting a new record high."

Smartphone sales also performed well with the release of the Galaxy Note20 series and Galaxy Z Flip2 in the third quarter, and the industry expects Samsung Electronics to record smartphone sales of 80.59 million units in the third quarter. This would be the highest since the third quarter of 2017 (82.54 million units).

The increase in memory semiconductor demand due to U.S. sanctions on Huawei is also expected to drive strong performance. As Huawei exhausted its existing memory inventory and Chinese foundry company SMIC fell under U.S. sanctions, Huawei reportedly placed an urgent order with Samsung Electronics in August.

Despite the decline in memory prices, experts forecast that the semiconductor division's operating profit will record slightly over 5 trillion KRW, a small decrease compared to the previous quarter.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.