S.Korea's Samsung sees huge profit in Q4
Getty Images ( 2010-01-07 00:21:55 )
South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Thursday it expects to post an estimated 3.3 billion dollars profit for the fourth quarter to December last year.
The world's largest memory chip and flat-screen TV maker said its consolidated operating profit is estimated at 3.7 trillion won (3.3 billion dollars) on sales of 39 trillion won during the September-December period.
The "earnings guidance" estimates came ahead of an official quarterly earnings report due later this month, the company said.
Samsung said it expects an operating profit of 10.92 trillion won on a record revenue of 136.05 trillion won for the full year 2009. Related article: Samsung in 3-D TV team up
The firm's projected profit compared with an operating loss of 740 billion won a year earlier and 4.23 trillion won the previous quarter. Related article: Samsung unveils e-reader
Despite the upbeat earnings guidance, Samsung Electronics shares were trading lower at 830,000 won in the morning, down 1.31 percent from a day earlier.
"It's just taking a breather today after recent gains," Greg Roh at HMC Investment Securities told Dow Jones Newswires.
"Samsung's outlook beat our house view and the broad market expectations," he said, adding that the company's semiconductor and handset divisions were key to its upbeat guidance.
He expects Samsung to post an operating profit of four trillion won in the first quarter and 16 trillion for the whole of 2010 on solid demand for memory chips, handsets and flat-screen televisions.
Copyright 2010  AFP Asian Edition
