By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang
SEOUL (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics estimated on Friday a more than 10-fold rise in its first-quarter operating profit, as rebounding semiconductor prices lifted earnings from a low base a year ago when there was a severe downturn in chip demand.
The world’s largest memory chip and TV maker estimated its operating profit rose to a better-than-expected 6.6 trillion won ($4.89 billion) in the quarter ended March 31.
That was up 931% from 640 billion won a year earlier, the South Korean firm said in a short preliminary earnings statement, and would be Samsung (KS:)’s highest operating profit since the third quarter of 2022.
The operating profit estimate beat a 5.7 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
But revenue missed expectations, likely rising 11% from the same period a year earlier to 71 trillion won, below a LSEG SmartEstimate of 72.3 trillion won.
“Since revenue was mostly in line but operating profit beat expectations, the inventory valuation of NAND flash chips may have improved. Demand for NAND has improved, which may have improved margins as well,” said Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Korea Investor Relations Service.
“Initial response to new Galaxy S24 smartphones was also positive due to on-device AI, so if greater-than-expected portion of the high-margin premium smartphones were sold, it would have an impact.”
The company is due to release detailed earnings on April 30.
CHIP PRICE RISE
The better performance came as its chip division, traditionally its biggest earner, is expected to report its first quarterly profit in five quarters as memory chip prices rebounded from a deep trough that began in mid-2022 due to weak post-pandemic demand for gadgets.
DRAM chip prices rose about 20% during the first quarter versus the previous quarter, while NAND flash chip prices increased by 23% to 28%, according to data provider TrendForce.
The bullish outlook for memory chip demand, including exploding appetite for chips such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence chipsets, has driven a 29% rise in Samsung shares over the last 12 months.
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday is likely to tighten semiconductor supply, and analysts said memory chip makers Samsung and SK Hynix may hike prices by a sharper margin than previously planned, potentially boosting second-quarter earnings.
Samsung’s mobile business likely reported a solid profit after launching sales of its new flagship Galaxy S24 smartphones in late January, analysts said.
Eugene Investment & Securities estimates Samsung shipped 57 million smartphones during the quarter, up 8% from the fourth quarter, and the average selling price of Samsung smartphones likely rose 30% to $340 quarter-on-quarter, supporting profits.
Global sales of Galaxy S24 smartphones devices grew by 8% compared to the previous year’s Galaxy S23 series during their first three weeks of availability, data provider Counterpoint said.
Samsung shares were down 0.5% in early morning trade versus a 0.4% drop in the wider South Korean market, tracking U.S. market falls after Federal Reserve officials spoke about the need to keep interest rate cuts in check.
($1 = 1,348.9300 won)
