Operating profit increased 50% to 14.1 trillion won for the three months ended March, South Korea’s biggest company said Thursday in a statement. Analysts estimated 13.4 trillion won on average. Sales advanced 18% to 77 trillion won, also higher than expected. Samsung will provide net income and divisional performance when it reports full earnings on Apr. 28.
“We expect solid earnings growth in 2022 on the back of healthy earnings rebound in semiconductor and display in 2H 2022,” Peter Lee, an analyst at Citigroup, said in a note ahead of the results. “Specifically, we expect Samsung’s memory business to benefit from the memory pricing strength throughout 2H 2022.”
Shares of Samsung had lost about 12.5% so far this year through Wednesday, with the broader chip sector underperforming as rising economic risks clouded the outlook for consumer demand. Surging oil prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along with inflation and interest-rate hikes have driven concern about dwindling disposable income and discretionary spending.