The Samsung logo is seen on an Android cell phone.
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SINGAPORE – Samsung Electronics announced on Friday that its operating profit for the quarter ended in December probably increased by 26% over the previous year, to 9 trillion Korean won ($ 8.22 billion).
Most were in line with analysts’ estimate of 9.1 trillion won, according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
Samsung Electronics’ shares in South Korea jumped 7.12% on Friday.
The company said that its consolidated sales in the fourth quarter probably reached 61 trillion won, almost 2% more than the previous year. Samsung did not detail the performance of each business unit, including its main for-profit semiconductor business.
The full results for the December quarter are expected to be released later this month.
Korean won and smartphone sales
Samsung’s guidance fell short of analysts’ expectations for two reasons, according to Daniel Kim, a senior research analyst at Macquarie Equities Research.
“Um, the strong Korean won against (a) some major currencies like the US dollar and the euro,” he said on Friday at CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia”. The other reason is “disappointing” smartphone sales, which have been quite uneven in recent quarters, said Kim.
But the analyst is optimistic about the action. He pointed out that memory chip prices are expected to turn around this quarter, with the expectation that average selling prices will rise – which would benefit the semiconductor business.
“The duration of memory recovery is likely to be much longer than many people think. That’s why I am very comfortable with my superior stock performance rating,” said Kim, adding that Samsung remains “one of the semiconductor stocks. cheapest in the world. “
Both operating profit and consolidated sales fell quarter on quarter, based on Friday’s guidance.