[ad_1]
By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang
SEOUL (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics estimated on Friday a greater than 10-fold rise in its first-quarter working revenue, as rebounding semiconductor costs lifted earnings from a low base a yr in the past when there was a extreme downturn in chip demand.
The world’s largest reminiscence chip and TV maker estimated its working revenue rose to a better-than-expected 6.6 trillion gained ($4.89 billion) within the quarter ended March 31.
That was up 931% from 640 billion gained a yr earlier, the South Korean agency stated in a brief preliminary earnings assertion, and can be Samsung (KS:)’s highest working revenue because the third quarter of 2022.
The working revenue estimate beat a 5.7 trillion gained LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted towards forecasts from analysts who’re extra constantly correct.
However income missed expectations, possible rising 11% from the identical interval a yr earlier to 71 trillion gained, under a LSEG SmartEstimate of 72.3 trillion gained.
“Since income was largely in line however working revenue beat expectations, the stock valuation of NAND flash chips might have improved. Demand for NAND has improved, which can have improved margins as nicely,” stated Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Korea Investor Relations Service.
“Preliminary response to new Galaxy S24 smartphones was additionally constructive as a consequence of on-device AI, so if greater-than-expected portion of the high-margin premium smartphones had been offered, it could have an effect.”
The corporate is because of launch detailed earnings on April 30.
CHIP PRICE RISE
The higher efficiency got here as its chip division, historically its greatest earner, is anticipated to report its first quarterly revenue in 5 quarters as reminiscence chip costs rebounded from a deep trough that started in mid-2022 as a consequence of weak post-pandemic demand for devices.
DRAM chip costs rose about 20% in the course of the first quarter versus the earlier quarter, whereas NAND flash chip costs elevated by 23% to twenty-eight%, in keeping with knowledge supplier TrendForce.
The bullish outlook for reminiscence chip demand, together with exploding urge for food for chips equivalent to high-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM) utilized in synthetic intelligence chipsets, has pushed a 29% rise in Samsung shares over the past 12 months.
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday is more likely to tighten semiconductor provide, and analysts stated reminiscence chip makers Samsung and SK Hynix might hike costs by a sharper margin than beforehand deliberate, probably boosting second-quarter earnings.
Samsung’s cell enterprise possible reported a stable revenue after launching gross sales of its new flagship Galaxy S24 smartphones in late January, analysts stated.
Eugene Funding & Securities estimates Samsung shipped 57 million smartphones in the course of the quarter, up 8% from the fourth quarter, and the typical promoting value of Samsung smartphones possible rose 30% to $340 quarter-on-quarter, supporting income.
World gross sales of Galaxy S24 smartphones gadgets grew by 8% in comparison with the earlier yr’s Galaxy S23 sequence throughout their first three weeks of availability, knowledge supplier Counterpoint stated.
Samsung shares had been down 0.5% in early morning commerce versus a 0.4% drop within the wider South Korean market, monitoring U.S. market falls after Federal Reserve officers spoke about the necessity to maintain rate of interest cuts in verify.
($1 = 1,348.9300 gained)
[ad_2]
Source link
