Samsung Electronics Q1 Earnings Exceeds Estimates on Chip Demand

Analysts noted that earnings at the world's top memory chip and smartphone producer were bolstered in the quarter by robust smartphone sales and a disruption at a competitor NAND Flash chip production.

Samsung (KS:005930) reported a preliminary profit of 14.1 trillion won ($11.6 billion) for the first quarter, compared to a Refinitiv SmartEstimate of 13.3 trillion won. Revenues are expected to have increased 18 percent year over year to a record 77 trillion won, thus above market estimates.

"Guidance exceeded market estimates, most likely owing to higher memory chip shipments and pricing," said Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities.

Although memory chip prices fell in the first quarter, experts noted that strong demand from data center customers, prudent investment expenditure by chipmakers, and restricted capacity growth boosted Samsung's chip earnings, which account for almost half of the company's overall profits.

Additionally, the chipmaker profited from a stoppage at a competitor NAND Flash chip production operated by Japan's Kioxia and the United States' Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) owing to raw material contamination.

"I believe there were hurried orders for NAND Flash chips placed with Samsung after the contamination incident at Kioxia," Park said.

The interruption at the Kioxia factory in early February is projected to increase NAND Flash prices by 5% to 10%, balancing the impact of purchasers maintaining relatively high stocks, data source TrendForce said.

Samsung delivered an estimated 72 million smartphones in the first quarter, according to Counterpoint Research, down 11% year over year, owing largely to the company's latest top smartphone, the Galaxy S22, being released later than normal.

According to Sujeong Lim, an associate director at Counterpoint, the Galaxy S22 series sold almost 50% more units internationally in the first week after its late February debut.

By the end of March, Samsung had sold more than 6 million devices of the S22 series, Lim said, adding that sales were in line with early forecasts.

Samsung is scheduled to announce comprehensive results on April 28, and investors will be looking for any comments on its M&A intentions, how it intends to handle its memory chip business in order to increase profitability, and the prognosis for semiconductor demand.

Samsung shares declined 0.2 percent in early trading, compared to the broader market's 0.9 percent decline.