Asian chipmakers see recovery, Samsung, Chartered Q1 results beat forecasts
By Mariko Ando, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 3:17 AM ET April 19, 2002
www2.marketwatch.com
TOKYO (CBS.MW) - All signs are pointing towards the end of the worst business downturn in a decade for Asian chipmakers, thanks to a rebound in semiconductor prices.
On Friday, South Korea's Samsung Electronics and Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor were the latest chip giants to report first-quarter earnings results that were better than market expectations, and they predicted brighter times ahead.
In Seoul, Samsung Electronics (SSNJF: news, chart, profile) posted a record first-quarter profit of 1.9 trillion won ($1.4 billion), buoyed by strong mobile-phone sales and rising product prices. The world's largest computer memory chipmaker saw profits soar 53 percent from 1.2 trillion won a year ago.
The first-quarter results also surpassed market expectations of a net profit of between 1.8 trillion won and 2.3 trillion won, according to a Reuters poll.
Sales rose 15 percent to a record 9.9 trillion won as memory chip prices climbed.
"Upbeat earning reports from Asian chipmakers like Samsung suggest a recovery in the U.S. tech business and that's definitely a plus also for Japanese tech companies. Players are closely monitoring coming earnings results by Japan's key firms and I would say the market's consensus for such results are pretty high," said Noboru Saruya, an equity information manager at Shinko Securities.
For companies like Samsung, which makes chips and flat screens for use in personal computers, more good news came in the form of improving global PC shipments.
After consecutive quarters of negative growth in the worldwide PC market, PC shipments totaled 32.7 million units in the first quarter of 2002, flat from the same period last year, according to data released by Dataquest. See full story. |
