Samsung Electronics Co. is estimated to have posted all-time high operating income in the second quarter helped by rebound in memory chip and display markets as well as robust sales of its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S8.

According to Seoul-based market data provider FnGuide Friday, the market consensus for the Korean tech giant’s operating profit in the April – June period is way above 12 trillion won ($10.67 billion) and little below 13 trillion won – 12.9 trillion won – and sales 58.2 trillion won. The projected second-quarter operating profit is up a whopping 59.5 percent from a year earlier, and sales up 14.3 percent. The earnings would mark the record-high quarterly performance beating the previous record of 10.1 trillion won in the third quarter of 2013. Samsung Electronics earlier posted its second-largest ever quarter earnings with an operating profit of 9.9 trillion won in the first quarter ended March.

eBest Investment & Securities Co. forecast Samsung Electronics operating profit to reach 14.05 trillion won, the highest estimate given by a local brokerage house. It also estimated the Korean firm’s second-quarter sales at 58.9 trillion won, citing an increase in prices of memory chips that largely contribute to the electronics giant’s total earnings and brisk sales of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays continued from the first quarter. The securities firm predicted Samsung Electronics to have raked in 7.52 trillion won in operating profit from semiconductor business and 1.38 trillion won in display segment. It also estimated the Korean firm’s IT& Mobile Communications (IM) division to register sound earnings of 4.23 trillion won in operating profit thanks to the Galaxy S8 which caught on the market since its launch late April.

Kiwoom Securities Co., on the other hand, estimated Samsung Electronics’ second-quarter operating profit at 11.7 trillion won – the lowest estimate among securities firms – as it was less optimistic about the mobile handsets division, predicting it to have earned 2.4 trillion won in the second quarter.

Samsung Electronics’ strong second-quarter earnings may have been propelled by spiking prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and non-volatile storage (NAND) flash memory chips in which the company has an unrivaled leadership on peak demand, according to multiple electronics industry sources.

By Lee Dong-in

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