{"id":111422,"date":"2021-04-07T04:40:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T04:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=111422"},"modified":"2021-04-07T04:40:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T04:40:17","slug":"samsung-electronics-says-q1-profit-likely-rose-44-matching-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/samsung-electronics-says-q1-profit-likely-rose-44-matching-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung Electronics says Q1 profit likely rose 44%, matching expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"
SEOUL (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Wednesday said first-quarter profit likely rose 44%, with analysts attributing the surge to brisk sales of smartphones and TVs, albeit tempered by a likely fall in chip earnings after a storm halted U.S. output.<\/p> The South Korean technology giant forecast January-March operating profit of 9.3 trillion won ($8.32 billion), matching a weighted average analyst forecast from Refinitiv SmartEstimate.<\/p>\n Analysts said Samsung\u2019s mobile division likely saw operating profit soar more than 1 trillion won to about 4.15 trillion won after its flagship Galaxy S21 smartphone series outsold the previous version by a two-to-one margin in the six weeks since its January launch, according to research provider Counterpoint.<\/p>\n A lower starting price for the flagship helped sales for the world\u2019s largest smartphone maker during the quarter, with the S21 priced $200 lower than the S20, Counterpoint said.<\/p>\n Profit in Samsung\u2019s television set and home appliance business also likely more than doubled to around 1 trillion won, analysts said, due to continued stay-at-home demand.<\/p>\n Cross-town TV and home appliance rival LG Electronics on Wednesday announced its largest-ever preliminary quarterly operating profit of 1.5 trillion won for January-March.<\/p>\n In Samsung\u2019s chip division, analysts said profit likely fell 20% to 3.6 trillion won due to the cost of ramping up domestic production as well as losses at its Texas plant following a mid-February stoppage, blunting the benefits of strong demand.<\/p>\n U.S. memory chip peer Micron Technology Inc last month forecast third-quarter revenue above analyst estimates due to rising demand brought about by a global shift to remote work.<\/p>\n The price of DRAM chips widely used in laptops and other computing devices rose 5.3% in January-March from the previous three months, showed data from TrendForce. Analysts expect that trend to continue as a global chip shortage spurs on buyers to snap up supplies.<\/p>\n \u201cPrices are likely to rise further in the current quarter due to solid demand for servers,\u201d said analyst Park Sung-soon at Cape Investment & Securities.<\/p>\n When Samsung announces detailed earnings later this month, \u201cthere will be interest in finding out how much Samsung is struggling in terms of low yields in its non-memory business, in addition to the extent of the losses in Texas and the U.S. pressure to increase chip investment,\u201d Park said, referring to the number of non-memory chips that pass quality tests.<\/p>\n Analysts have estimated that Samsung will invest about 10 trillion won in its chip contract manufacturing business this year, compared to about 6 trillion won last year.<\/p>\n Two top White House aides are set to host a meeting on April 12 with chipmakers and automakers in attendance on the state of the U.S. supply chain, Reuters previously reported. Samsung is considering a new $17 billion chip plant in the United States.<\/p>\n Samsung also said, in a preliminary earnings release without offering any breakdown of the figures, that revenue likely rose 17% from the same period a year prior to 65 trillion won.<\/p>\n Its share price traded down 0.2% after the release versus a 0.2% rise in the benchmark KOSPI. The stock has risen about 6.2% so far this year versus the KOSPI\u2019s 8.8%.<\/p>\n ($1 = 1,118.2100 won)<\/p>\nCHIP INTEREST<\/h2>\n