[이코노믹리뷰=박정훈 기자] Samsung Electronics (005930) was clearly a crisis. Samsung’s crisis that can greatly shake the company even if it is roughly listed, including the decline in demand for home appliances and smartphones due to Corona 19, the contraction of semiconductor demand due to the US-China trade dispute, and the uneasy position of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is being accused of involvement with the Gukjeong Nonongdan The former has faced over the past year. However, regardless of this situation, Samsung Electronics recorded remarkable achievements, again demonstrating the potential of a’global class’ company.
On the morning of the 8th, Samsung Electronics announced its provisional results for the fourth quarter of 2020. According to the announcement, in the fourth quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics recorded 61 trillion won in sales and 9 trillion won in operating profit. Compared to the third quarter of 2020, which recorded 66 trillion won in sales and 12 trillion won in operating profit, the fourth quarter’s results were slightly lower than those of the third quarter of last year. It is difficult to assess pessimistically.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the negative impact of the’Huawei Shock’ on the semiconductor market, which is Samsung Electronics’ flagship product, was reflected in earnest, so in this situation, the achievements Samsung Electronics made in the fourth quarter have a special meaning. Above all else, Samsung Electronics’ sales growth of 1.87% and operating profit of 25.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, which did not reflect external negative factors such as the spread of Corona 19 and the trade dispute between the United States and China, shows the strength of Samsung Electronics.
However, the actual results were slightly short of the expectations of the investment industry, which held that the internal and external situation was not reflected as a major negative factor for Samsung Electronics rather than market concerns. On the 6th, F&Guide, a financial information company, forecasted that the domestic investment industry’s consensus on Samsung Electronics’ fourth quarter 2020 results (average of the expected value) was 61 trillion 2876 billion won in sales and 9,543.8 billion won in operating profit. Of course, compared to the actual results of 61 trillion won and 9 trillion won, there is actually no big difference.
It is believed that various factors have influenced the fact that Samsung Electronics did not continue its growth in the third quarter from the fourth quarter. It is the opinion of the investment community that the 4Q results reflect the reduction in sales of major export products such as semiconductors due to the European regional blockade due to the re-proliferation of Corona 19, the decline in overseas local consumption sentiment and the increase in the value of the won.
Before the final results were announced, it has not yet been confirmed how much of the Samsung Electronics divisions contributed to 4Q results. However, weight is being put on the opinion that it is the device solution (DS), that is, the semiconductor business unit, that led Samsung Electronics’ “good” in 4Q. Securities companies expect the DS division’s operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year to reach 4.5 trillion won from 4.4 trillion won. This is a figure that the DS division’s operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased from 3.4 trillion won. In the same vein, the stock market expects Samsung Electronics’ IT and mobile (IM) operating profit to be about 2.5 trillion won and consumer electronics (CE) operating profit of about 800 billion to 1.2 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year. .
Although it did not reach the level of expectations of the investment industry, considering Samsung Electronics’ internal and external situation, last year’s fourth quarter results were close to’earning surprise’. Samsung Electronics’ earnings are meaningful just by showing the growth of operating profits amid the special negatives of Corona. In addition, the global industry’s outlook that the price of memory semiconductors, which had declined over the past year, will normalize as semiconductor supply and demand stabilizes starting this year, boosting expectations for further growth of Samsung Electronics.
IBK Investment & Securities researcher Yunho Kim said, “There are industry analyzes that the improvement in the supply-demand imbalance in the memory semiconductor market is progressing faster than expected.” “PC DRAM prices are expected to rebound in the first quarter of this year. NAND flash prices The extent of the decline is expected to decrease,” he explained, explaining the situation in the semiconductor industry, which is being developed to the advantage of Samsung Electronics.
Yooak Park, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, “It is expected that global DRAM prices will increase starting this year.” It is expected that the semiconductor business will be able to improve profitability from the fourth quarter of 2020.”