SAMSUNG EXPECTS SOLID Q4 PERFORMANCE OF ITS CHIP, DISPLAY PRODUCTS

Samsung Electronics Co. forecast solid fourth-quarter earnings as its cash cow chip business apparently stayed afloat in the face of the weakness of the US dollar and the resurgence of novel coronavirus infections to cover mediocre performance in its mobile business, Joo Kyung-don reported for Yonhap News Agency.

In its earnings guidance, the South Korean tech giant estimated its operating profit at 9 trillion won ($8.2 billion) for the October-December period in 2020, up 25.7 percent from a year ago.

The fourth-quarter operating income estimate was lower than the market consensus of 9.3 trillion won in the data compiled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency, which analyzed reports from 19 local brokerage houses.

Samsung projected its fourth-quarter sales at 61 trillion won in the three-month period, up 1.87 percent from a year earlier. The figure is in line with the market forecast.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Samsung's fourth-quarter estimate was down from its superb performance in the third quarter, when it racked up record sales of 66.9 trillion won and operating profit of 12.3 trillion won on the back of pent-up demand.

Analysts said the weaker U.S. dollar and lockdowns in European nations may have dragged down Samsung's fourth-quarter earnings from the previous quarter. For the whole of 2020, Samsung expected its operating profit to reach 35.95 trillion won, up 29.4 percent from a year earlier, with its sales to climb 2.54 percent on-year to 236.26 trillion won.

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