South Korean tech giant Samsung said Tuesday its operating income for the three months ending March probably grew from a year earlier and marginally beat expectations.
Samsung said it expects 6.4 trillion Korean wins ($5.23 billion) in operating income. For the first quarter of 2020, it was up 2.7 per cent from the 6.23 trillion. It earned a year ago for the same time.
Analysts predicted the good things in Samsung. Samsung will expect its operating income for the quarter to be 6.2 trillion won ($5.05 billion), according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
The firm said it expects combined revenue of 55 trillion won in the first quarter, up nearly 5 per cent from a year earlier.
In morning trade on Tuesday, Samsung shares rose about 1.33%. It is one of the first big tech firms to announce earnings figures. In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic for the January- March quarter, it is still able to reach the goal.
The outbreak of the virus has led to increasing concerns about demand for smartphones and other consumer electronics. As the temporary closure of some Samsung factories and retail outlets around the world, it will definitely affect sales.
Hence, it did not break down the operating income and consolidate sales figures for each of its business units.
Coronavirus Makes Everyone to Work from Home
According to SK Kim, an executive and analyst at Daiwa Securities, gave the response to Samsung. However ,a fairly weak Korean won, cost-saving efforts and solid demand for memory chips are likely to boost the company’s earnings.
Kim added, “as the spread of the virus, it has pushed more people to work from home and make transactions online. That’s boosting demand for data center memory chips as they serve a range of internet services.”
“This will continue to drive memory price high in the second quarter, offsetting both mobile and TV (business) weakness,” Kim said.