Just two weeks ago, several analysts predicted that Samsung would see a 40 percent increase in operating profit at the end of the first quarter of this year. This estimate has now been revised down. Samsung is now expected to post an operating profit of 8.7 trillion won ($7.5 billion) for the first quarter of the year which runs from January through March. The operating profit was previously expected to come in at 9.3 trillion won ($8.14 billion) Even though it's a downward revision compared to previous estimates, it would still be a 30.6 percent increase from the same quarter last year.
Market tracker FnGuide conducted a survey of earnings forecasts for Samsung Electronics and came up with this result which suggests that sales during the January-March period might fall 0.3 percent year-over-year. As expected, strong sales of semiconductors will come to the company's aid. Analysts expect the operating profit from Samsung's semiconductor division to surpass 5 trillion won ($4.3 billion) for the quarter.
Despite the fact that the mobile division hasn't had a new flagship smartphone to sell over the past two quarters, analysts still expect the division to post a recovery in Q1 2017 on the back of increased budget smartphone sales and renewed interest in the Galaxy S7 series.
