Samsung Reports Better-Than-Expected Q1 Revenue Despite Coronavirus Pandemic Effect

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. SSNLF on Tuesday (Seoul time) reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

What Happened

The South Korean consumer electronics company said it made $44.9 billion in sales in the quarter, up 5% from the $42.8 billion posted in the first quarter last year. The medial sales were slightly below the average Refinitiv analyst estimate of $45.4 billion, as reported by Reuters.

Samsung reported an operating profit of $5.2 billion, up 2.7% YTD from last year's $5.1 billion. The operating profit is similarly 2.7% higher than the Refinitiv analyst estimate of $5.1 billion.

The company didn't give further details on the financials of particular divisions.

Samsung is expected to have benefited from higher demand for chips from laptop makers and data centers as more people are forced to work from home during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to Reuters.

In line with other companies, the demand for smartphones, and other electronic products like televisions, is likely to have reduced.

According to some analysts, Samsung could see a bigger hit to its revenue in the next quarter.

"Even though Samsung's mobile business was hit by the coronavirus outbreak this quarter, it will likely face bigger challenges in the second quarter - now that the United States and Europe have become the hardest-hit countries," Meritz Securities analyst Kim Sun-woo told Reuters.

Price Action

Samsung's shares traded 0.9% higher at $40.13 in Seoul at press time on Tuesday. The shares closed at $44.2 in the otc market on March 24.

Photo Credit: Oskar Alexanderson via Wikimedia.