(3rd LD) Samsung expects swing to Q4 operating profit

(ATTN: UPDATES share price in last para)
By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest maker of
memory chips and flat screen TVs, said Thursday that the median of its
consolidated fourth-quarter operating profit is estimated at 3.7 trillion won
(US$3.3 billion), compared with an operating loss of 740 billion won a year
earlier.

Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing that its consolidated sales are
estimated at 39 trillion won, the highest quarterly sales figure ever and up 18.2
percent from 33 trillion won a year ago.a
Fourth-quarter operating profit is predicted to fall 12.5 percent, compared with
4.23 trillion won the previous quarter.
Samsung Electronics forecast that it will see robust earnings in 2009 from the
year before on a recovery in prices of memory chips and flat-screen panels.
For the whole of 2009, consolidated revenues are expected to stand at 136.05
trillion won, while operating profits are estimated at 10.92 trillion won,
according to Samsung Electronics.
The company plans to disclose its fourth-quarter earnings later this month.
Samsung Electronics started providing quarterly guidance from July of last year.
Analysts said Samsung Electronics is expected to outperform last year's earnings
in 2010 as prices of key memory chips and flat panels continue to show an upward
trend.
"In 2010, consolidated operating profit is forecast to reach a record high," said
Jin Sung-hye, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp., in a report out Wednesday.
She added that handsets and TV divisions will also boost operating profit as
marketing expenses are expected to go down in the first quarter.
Shares of Samsung Electronics closed at 813,000 won on the Seoul bourse, down
3.30 percent from Wednesday's close.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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