[EPS Prospects①] 'National Blue Chip' Samsung Electronics... Will It Reach '100,000 Won Electronics' This Year?

Samsung Electronics achieved a record high performance with annual sales exceeding 279 trillion won. On the 7th, Samsung Electronics announced that its preliminary consolidated results for last year showed sales of 279.04 trillion won and an operating profit of 51.57 trillion won. Employees are arriving at Samsung Electronics' Seocho building on this day. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Myunghwan Lee] Samsung Electronics, which set a record for the highest sales ever last year and rose to the number one position in the global semiconductor market, is considered a representative stock whose earnings per share (EPS) growth rate this year is higher than its operating profit growth rate.

According to the securities industry on the 29th, Samsung Electronics recorded consolidated sales of 279.6 trillion KRW last year, an 18.07% increase from the previous year, marking the highest ever. Operating profit rose 43.45% to 51.63 trillion KRW. Even looking only at the fourth quarter, sales reached 76.57 trillion KRW, the highest quarterly figure.

The semiconductor division is credited with driving the record-breaking performance. The semiconductor division alone recorded sales exceeding 94 trillion KRW last year, surpassing U.S. Intel to claim the number one spot in the global semiconductor market for the first time in three years.

The outlook for this year's performance is also bright. Won-sik Lee, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, said, "Samsung Electronics' operating profit this year is expected to reach 59 trillion KRW, a 14% increase from the previous year," adding, "Operating profit in the memory division is expected to increase by 23% to 34.1 trillion KRW, driving the growth in operating profit." Gyu-jin Uh, a researcher at DB Financial Investment, also said, "In the first quarter of 2022, a decline in quarterly performance is inevitable due to an expanded drop in memory prices," but estimated, "Samsung Electronics' sales in 2022 will increase by 9.6% to 306.5 trillion KRW, and operating profit will increase by 14.1% to 58.9 trillion KRW, achieving the highest performance ever."

As Samsung Electronics continues to record strong performance, the securities industry is raising EPS forecasts. Korea Investment & Securities projected Samsung Electronics' estimated EPS for this year at 6,452 KRW, expecting it to reach 7,300 KRW in 2023. IBK Investment & Securities estimated this year's and next year's EPS at 6,510 KRW and 7,514 KRW, respectively. DB Financial Investment forecasted the highest figures, with EPS estimates of 6,880 KRW for this year and 9,131 KRW for next year.

The securities industry generally holds a positive outlook on achieving the '100,000 Electronics' milestone. Researcher Uh analyzed, "Due to recent global issues such as sharp declines in global IT companies' stock prices and the Nasdaq index, Samsung Electronics' stock price also fell sharply in the short term," adding, "Memory prices are expected to bottom out in January and begin a full rebound phase, so the company's quarterly performance upward trend is just beginning."

Researcher Unho Kim of IBK Investment & Securities said, "The scale of the DRAM price decline is not as large as feared, and it is expected that the drop will narrow further in the second quarter," concluding, "Samsung Electronics' operating profit in 2022 is expected to reach 57 trillion KRW, so there is high potential for stock price appreciation."

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