SEOUL: Samsung Electronics, the world's top technology firm by revenue, will report strong first-quarter profit of around $4.5 billion on Friday on soaring sales of its flagship Galaxy smartphones and the new Note, a mini-tablet and phone.
Samsung, which raced to the top of the global smartphone rankings last year with close to a fifth of the market, from just 3 percent in 2009, should consolidate its position with more product launches, including a revamped Galaxy S, over the next few months.
Samsung, Asia's most valuable technology firm worth some $190 billion, reports its January-March guidance ahead of detailed quarterly results due on April 27.
January-March operating profit is seen at around 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion), up 70 percent from a year ago, but down 6 percent from the preceding quarter's record 5.3 trillion won, according to a consensus of 34 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue is forecast at 45.5 trillion won. "We hugely underestimated Samsung's smartphone performance in the first quarter," said CLSA analyst Matt Evans, increasing his profit forecast by 56 percent to 5.6 trillion won, the most bullish market view.
"Our view that margins wouldn't significantly increase was very wrong ... This strong performance has been driven by not just higher than expected volumes but also increased dominance at the high-end of the Android market, where there was little new competition ... Samsung's smartphone shipments probably exceeded Apple's by a significant margin."
Samsung's shipments are forecast at a record 44 million smartphones in the first quarter just ended, up by nearly 25 percent from October-December levels, according to a Reuters survey of analysts.
Analysts have been raising their Samsung profit estimates in recent weeks to reflect the strong handset sales - 28 of 35 estimates have been revised in the past 30 days, pushing up the average estimate by 13 percent, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.
Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note, a mini-tablet and phone with a screen half the size of the iPad, in late October, and the top-end model has quickly become its core profit earner.
Sales of the Note, which has revived the throwback stylus function, have topped 5 million, increasing the competition against Apple Inc and smartphone strugglers HTC , Nokia and Research in Motion.
"Both smartphone shipments and profit growth are likely to be much stronger than consensus. Sales of the Note were very good and it's become Samsung's fresh money generator," said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities, adding earnings from just the Note and the Galaxy S could have topped 2 trillion won.
indiatimes.com
Samsung, which raced to the top of the global smartphone rankings last year with close to a fifth of the market, from just 3 percent in 2009, should consolidate its position with more product launches, including a revamped Galaxy S, over the next few months.
Samsung, Asia's most valuable technology firm worth some $190 billion, reports its January-March guidance ahead of detailed quarterly results due on April 27.
January-March operating profit is seen at around 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion), up 70 percent from a year ago, but down 6 percent from the preceding quarter's record 5.3 trillion won, according to a consensus of 34 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue is forecast at 45.5 trillion won. "We hugely underestimated Samsung's smartphone performance in the first quarter," said CLSA analyst Matt Evans, increasing his profit forecast by 56 percent to 5.6 trillion won, the most bullish market view.
"Our view that margins wouldn't significantly increase was very wrong ... This strong performance has been driven by not just higher than expected volumes but also increased dominance at the high-end of the Android market, where there was little new competition ... Samsung's smartphone shipments probably exceeded Apple's by a significant margin."
Samsung's shipments are forecast at a record 44 million smartphones in the first quarter just ended, up by nearly 25 percent from October-December levels, according to a Reuters survey of analysts.
Analysts have been raising their Samsung profit estimates in recent weeks to reflect the strong handset sales - 28 of 35 estimates have been revised in the past 30 days, pushing up the average estimate by 13 percent, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.
Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note, a mini-tablet and phone with a screen half the size of the iPad, in late October, and the top-end model has quickly become its core profit earner.
Sales of the Note, which has revived the throwback stylus function, have topped 5 million, increasing the competition against Apple Inc and smartphone strugglers HTC , Nokia and Research in Motion.
"Both smartphone shipments and profit growth are likely to be much stronger than consensus. Sales of the Note were very good and it's become Samsung's fresh money generator," said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities, adding earnings from just the Note and the Galaxy S could have topped 2 trillion won.
indiatimes.com
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