Samsung Electronics estimated on Oct. 8 that its operating profit will likely stand at 7.7 trillion won($6.4billion) in the July-September period, down 56.2 percent on-year.
The operating income beat previous analyst estimates of around 7 trillion won. Its quarterly sales will likely come in at 62 trillion won, down 5.3 percent from a year earlier, the tech giant said in its earnings forecast.
Market analysts believed that a slight recovery in demand for DRAM and NAND memory chips and the robust sales of its latest flagship Galaxy Note 10 and foldable smartphone contributed to the higher-than-expected earnings.
The details of the earnings of each division under the tech behemoth have not been announced yet, but the mobile business unit of the firm is forecast to have earned 2.1-2.4 trillion won in operating income, up from 1.56 trillion won in the second quarter. The division posted an operating profit of 2.22 trillion won in the third quarter last year.
“There has been high demand for 5G-enabled smartphones, and the trend will likely continue in the fourth quarter,” said Yoo Jong-woo, an analyst from Korea Investment & Securities.
The display division, whose mobile OLED displays are adopted by most top-tier global smartphone makers like Apple and Huawei Technologies, is projected to have posted 1 trillion won in operating profit in the third quarter, up from 0.75 trillion won in the previous quarter.
By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)