By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) teased a better-than-expected 23% rise in its second quarter operating profit, in a regulatory filing on Tuesday ahead of revealing its full earnings figures later in the month.
The South Korean memory chip and smartphone producer estimated an operating profit of KRW8.1 ($6.78 billion), its highest quarterly profit since 2018.
The rise in profit was attributed to strong sales of chips to data centers, with the COVID-19 outbreak forcing many employees to work from home and children staying at home. The sales were able to make up for the drop in demand for smartphones and TVs. One-off gains from the display business, which counts Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) as a customer, gave profits a further boost.
But the company also estimated revenue to be KRW52 trillion for the same quarter, a 7% drop from the second quarter.
Samsung Electronics shares fell 2.18%to KRW53,800 ($45.0314) by 1:26 AM ET (6:26 AM GMT).
Meanwhile, state prosecutors are investigating Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jae Yong Lee over charges of accounting fraud and manipulating stock prices to gain control of Samsung Group.