South Korea's Samsung Electronics said its third-quarter net profit fell 23 percent year-on-year, but analysts were buoyed as the firm overtook key rival Apple in the lucrative smartphone market.
Samsung, the world's biggest technology firm in terms of revenue, on Friday said net profit for July to September fell to 3.442 trillion won ($3.086 billion) from 4.455 trillion a year earlier, mainly due to weaker flat-panel screen sales as a global economic slowdown took hold.
The world's largest maker of memory chips and flat-screen displays had recorded a higher net profit of 3.506 trillion won in the second quarter.
Third-quarter operating profit was 4.252 trillion won, down 12.6 percent, and revenue was 41.273 trillion, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Those figures were in line with the firm's earnings guidance issued earlier this month.
The company said its telecoms businesses achieved record quarterly sales of 14.9 trillion won, up 37 percent from the previous year, with growth mainly driven by strong sales of Galaxy smartphones.
Operating profit for the businesses -- which include mobile sales and telecommunication systems -- also hit a record 2.52 trillion won.
Samsung vice president Robert Yi said in a statement the company achieved a solid quarterly performance despite the slowdown in developed markets, thanks partly to strong smartphone sales.
Samsung Electronics overtook its main rival Apple in the third quarter to become the world's largest seller of smartphones, according to data released Friday by market research firm Strategy Analytics.
Samsung sold 27.8 million smartphones while Apple shipped 17.1 million and Finland's Nokia sold 16.8 million, it said.
The Korean firm's share of the smartphone market rose to 23.8 percent in the third quarter from 9.3 percent a year earlier, while Apple's market share fell to 14.6 percent from 17.4 percent, the research firm said in a statement.
Nokia saw its share fall drastically to 14.4 percent from 32.7 percent.
Strategy Analytics said Apple's growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S, volatile economic conditions and tougher competition from Samsung's Galaxy S2 model.
Samsung said it expects sales of mobile devices to stay strong and flat-panel TV shipments to rise in the fourth quarter.
But Yi cautioned that, in light of global economic uncertainty, "we cannot rule out the possibility of demand growth slowing compared to previous years."
IBK Securities analyst Nam Tae-Hyun said however that fourth-quarter earnings are expected to be comparable to the third quarter, despite a seasonal spending increase including higher marketing costs.
Smartphone sales would continue to lead the way and contributions from the display and chipmaking businesses would likely grow as they come off a bottom, he added.
"Samsung's earnings tend to be weaker in the fourth quarter but this time that will not be the case," Nam said. "It has new (smartphone and tablet PC) products in the pipeline."
For More Articles
Samsung, the world's biggest technology firm in terms of revenue, on Friday said net profit for July to September fell to 3.442 trillion won ($3.086 billion) from 4.455 trillion a year earlier, mainly due to weaker flat-panel screen sales as a global economic slowdown took hold.
The world's largest maker of memory chips and flat-screen displays had recorded a higher net profit of 3.506 trillion won in the second quarter.
Third-quarter operating profit was 4.252 trillion won, down 12.6 percent, and revenue was 41.273 trillion, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Those figures were in line with the firm's earnings guidance issued earlier this month.
The company said its telecoms businesses achieved record quarterly sales of 14.9 trillion won, up 37 percent from the previous year, with growth mainly driven by strong sales of Galaxy smartphones.
Operating profit for the businesses -- which include mobile sales and telecommunication systems -- also hit a record 2.52 trillion won.
Samsung vice president Robert Yi said in a statement the company achieved a solid quarterly performance despite the slowdown in developed markets, thanks partly to strong smartphone sales.
Samsung Electronics overtook its main rival Apple in the third quarter to become the world's largest seller of smartphones, according to data released Friday by market research firm Strategy Analytics.
Samsung sold 27.8 million smartphones while Apple shipped 17.1 million and Finland's Nokia sold 16.8 million, it said.
The Korean firm's share of the smartphone market rose to 23.8 percent in the third quarter from 9.3 percent a year earlier, while Apple's market share fell to 14.6 percent from 17.4 percent, the research firm said in a statement.
Nokia saw its share fall drastically to 14.4 percent from 32.7 percent.
Strategy Analytics said Apple's growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S, volatile economic conditions and tougher competition from Samsung's Galaxy S2 model.
Samsung said it expects sales of mobile devices to stay strong and flat-panel TV shipments to rise in the fourth quarter.
But Yi cautioned that, in light of global economic uncertainty, "we cannot rule out the possibility of demand growth slowing compared to previous years."
IBK Securities analyst Nam Tae-Hyun said however that fourth-quarter earnings are expected to be comparable to the third quarter, despite a seasonal spending increase including higher marketing costs.
Smartphone sales would continue to lead the way and contributions from the display and chipmaking businesses would likely grow as they come off a bottom, he added.
"Samsung's earnings tend to be weaker in the fourth quarter but this time that will not be the case," Nam said. "It has new (smartphone and tablet PC) products in the pipeline."
For More Articles
Post a Comment