Samsung Electronics announced a preliminary result statement for the second quarter of 2023, in which operating income hit the lowest record in 14 years, but was much better than the average previously forecasted by securities analysts.
A previous report points out that Samsung's 2023 operating profit rate is estimated to fall to single digits. According to Ddaily, Money Today, and other Korean media, in Samsung's 2Q preliminary results, revenue was KRW60 trillion (US$45.906 billion), down 5.88% QoQ and down 22.28% YoY; operating income was KRW600 billion, down 6.25% QoQ and 95.74% YoY.
Although the operating income performance in 2Q2023 was the lowest since 1Q2009 (KRW590 billion), it far exceeded the average forecast of the analysts (KRW177 billion), according to FnGuide, a South Korean financial information agency.
Since the provisional results will not disclose the sales of individual business divisions, many South Korean industry experts anticipate that Samsung's semiconductor business suffered a huge loss in Q2. It is worth noting that, according to a report by the Korea News Agency Yonhap, Samsung's performance still exceeded previous market expectations due to increased DRAM shipments and reduced inventories; as the memory market seems to have bottomed out, the effect of Samsung's production reduction will be reflected in the second half of 2023, and its performance is expected to improve.
On the other hand, despite the stagnation of the smartphone market in the latter half of 2022, Samsung is expected to maintain a stable operating profit performance in this sector, thanks to the increase in sales of Samsung's high-end products.
Samsung is scheduled to announce its Q2 2023 financial results on July 27, 2023.
