Samsung Electronics Sees 7.3 Tln Won in Operating Profit in Q3

Operating income is estimated at 7.3 trillion won ($6.25 billion) for the July-September period, compared with the 4.06 trillion won posted a year earlier, Samsung said in a regulatory filing.

A recent weakening of the won-down 12 percent year-on-year against the dollar by the end of the third quarter-helped boost profits as most sales of semiconductors and display panels to emerging markets are settled in U.S. dollars, he added.

A man walks out of Samsung Electronics’ headquarters in Seoul January 6, 2014.

Samsung didn’t offer a net profit estimate for the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s profit from its smartphone division likely declined from a year earlier even as the company’s handset shipments are believed to have gone up.

After peaking at 10.1 trillion won in the third quarter of 2013, Samsung’s operating profit reached its nadir of 4.6 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014, but gradually posted improved earnings on-quarter through the April-June period.

“The mobile unit isn’t out of the woods yet”, said C.W. Chung, an analyst with Nomura Securities in Seoul.

The latest figure beat the estimate of 6.7 trillion won given by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Samsung Electronics receives 80 percent of the displays that the affiliate produces, the company said.

They raked in operating profits of 210 billion won and 540 billion won, respectively, in the second quarter. Its fully audited results are due out later this month.

John Park, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said the tech giant rose on speculation that the company may announce plans to return more of its profits to shareholders, possibly through a share buyback.

Samsung hopes the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge revitalize its smartphone business. “It’s having trouble finding a way to create new demand for its smartphones”. In addition to its own devices, Samsung supplies chips to new Apple iPhones. But the world’s largest smartphone maker is still struggling to maintain its market share amid intense competition from Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi.

“A bendable display can be one example”, Soh added.

Its payment system, which competes with Apple Pay and Google’s Android Pay, uses the technology that mimics the old-school, magnetic signals from credit-card swipes, allowing it work with a wider range of merchants.