Samsung's Q3 guidance disappoints market, stock drops

Samsung's third quarter earnings guidance showed a consolidated operating profit of about 9.1 trillion won ($6.74 billion), falling short of analysts' expectations and pushing the company's stock lower.

The guidance, released on Tuesday, represents a four-fold annual increase but when compared to the second quarter is a 13% drop.

Markets reacted with disappointment. Samsung's share price fell by over 1.3% immediately after the publication of the quarterly outlook.
Experts attribute the comparatively weak quarterly figures to the fact that the market leader in memory chips, smartphones and televisions is currently lagging behind in the development of high-performance semiconductors for the booming artificial intelligence market. In particular, direct competitors Nvidia and SK Hynix are putting Samsung under a lot of pressure.

The financial figures are only an initial estimate. The group will publish more precise figures at a later date, probably at the end of the month.