Samsung to Pocket $US6.8B Q3 2012 Profit: Analysts Forecast
Samsung Electronics is expected to hit an operating profit of $US6.8 billion for the September 2012 quarter, likely boosting its income by about 77 per cent in the past 12 months ending in the period.
Reuters said on Friday that the South Korean tech giant is expected to disclose its earnings guidance on the same day and the figures to be reported will mostly please Samsung investors, who will get the confirmation in late October, by which time the company will issue its latest quarterly report.
Headlining that report is the projected $US25 billion 2012 profit for the Asian consumer electronic maker, which in the past four quarters has collected accolades befitting a constantly rising global firm.
Within the last 12 months, Samsung took the crown away from Apple and Nokia as respective leaders of the smartphone and the broader mobile phone markets, thanks mostly to the wide-array of Android handsets that the firm has been selling.
Citing analysts' estimates, The Korea Times said on Thursday that Samsung's total mobile phones shipment for the September quarter alone should reach 106 million units, 59 million units of which are the bestselling Galaxy smartphone product lines.
The projection is in line with Samsung's earlier disclosure that the Galaxy S3 already shifted 20 million units only 100 days after its launch in May plus the hybrid Galaxy Note, which in turn breached the 10 million mark this year.
The quarter turnover most likely will include residue sales of the Galaxy S2, which CNET said topped 50 million units of sales since it was pushed out of the global market in early 2011.
The S2 trend is sustained by the S3, which IBK Securities analyst Lee Seung-woo will again banner the overall mobile phone sales of Samsung.
"With the shipment of the Galaxy S3 expected to record 18 million units from 15 million, it is most likely to have increased the sales and average selling price figures for the firm's mobile business unit," Mr Lee was reported by The Korea Herald as saying on Thursday.
Like in the previous quarters, Samsung's mobile division will again emerge as the top grosser for the company with the weakening market environment for its other tech products - flat screen televisions and memory chips.
Yet even the firm's main attraction is forecasted to encounter challenges, Mr Lee said, adding that competition in the sector is getting tougher, more so with the expected reinvigoration of another mobile ecosystem - Microsoft's Windows.
"The mobile business has been the main driver for Samsung, but its momentum will slow as differentiating to really wow consumers becomes even more challenging, and high-end models come under more price pressure as markets get crowded," Reuters reported Mr Lee as saying in a market note.
Reuters noted too that while Samsung is fattening its treasury, future expenses, many of which unavoidable, could chip away some cash from the company and foremost of which are the higher payouts for its employees that were chiefly responsible for producing many of Samsung's bestselling gadgets.
The tech firm also needs to set aside sufficient war chest, the news agency added, for its marketing tussles with competitors like Apple and Nokia plus the strong possibility that its $US1.05 billion legal obligation to Apple will be affirmed by a U.S. court.
Nonetheless, Samsung should be able to carry over its present momentum well into the final quarter of 2012, Dongbu Securities analyst Shin Hyun-joon told The Korea Times, due mainly to impressive gadget thrusts in the year, specifically that of the S3 and the refreshed Galaxy Note 2.
By December this year, Samsung is expected to post a profit hike of 41.8 per cent, coming from the figures that the company has recorded in the corresponding period in 2011, Mr Shin added.