Samsung has issued preliminary earnings guidance for Q4 and said its expectation is another record quarter with consolidated profit of around 8.8 trillion Korean won ($8.3 billion), on consolidated sales of approximately 56 trillion Korean won ($53.6 billion). The Q4 figure compares to 8.06 trillion Korean won in the previous quarter, and 4.66 trillion Korean won in the year ago quarter.
The Korean electronics giant is estimating its full fiscal year 2012 revenues at 201.05 trillion Korean won ($189 billion) on consolidated basis, while operating profit for the fiscal year is expected to be 29.01 trillion Korean won ($27.2 billion).
Reuters reports Samsung saying it sold close to 500 mobile handsets a minute during its Q4, and noting that demand also picked up for the third party manufacturer side of its business, specifically for the flat screens it makes for mobile devices including for rivals such as Apple.
Despite another record quarter for Samsung in Q4, Reuters notes investor expectations that the company’s run of five straight record quarters could end in Q1 on “weaker seasonal demand” for smartphones — its “biggest earner”. “Investors are a bit concerned that Samsung’s momentum may slow in the first half,” Reuters quotes Kim Sung-soo, a fund manager at LS Asset Management, commenting. “The smartphone market is unlikely to sustain its strong growth as advanced markets are nearing saturation despite growth in emerging countries.”
Samsung’s preliminary results for Q4 stand in marked contrast to rival Asian mobile maker HTC, which reported unaudited Q4 figures yesterday. HTC said its net income for the quarter was just $1 billion Taiwanese dollars ($34 million) — a 91 per cent year-on-year drop.