Samsung Profit Forecast Indicates Limited Coronavirus Impact
April 06 2020 - 7:44PM
Dow Jones News
By Elizabeth Koh
Samsung Electronics Co. provided some hope that the business
slowdown spurred by the new coronavirus pandemic might only
moderately dent one of the world's largest technology companies,
delivering a profit forecast above analysts' expectations
Tuesday.
The South Korean giant's projected 2.7% rise in first-quarter
operating profits provides one of the first corporate indicators of
how large an impact the coronavirus will have both on the global
technology market and the broader economy. The global shift to
remote working lifted demand for Samsung-made memory chips that
power data centers and cloud computing, analysts say.
Samsung, the world's largest smartphone and memory-chip maker,
acts as an industry bellwether because it is intricately knitted
into the global marketplace as both manufacturer and supplier. The
company reports full results later this month.
On Tuesday, Samsung estimated an operating profit of 6.4
trillion South Korean won ($5.2 billion), compared with 6.23
trillion won at the same time last year. The South Korean
electronics giant also said it expects to report 55 trillion won in
revenue compared with 52.39 trillion won for the prior year's
quarter.
Analysts had forecast about 6.2 trillion won in operating profit
and 55.6 trillion won in revenue, according to estimates gathered
by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company's expected dip
in smartphone sales was padded somewhat by an expected resurgence
in memory-chip demand, which had been expected to rally after a
slump throughout 2019.
Write to Elizabeth Koh at Elizabeth.Koh@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 06, 2020 20:29 ET (00:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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