Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone manufacturer, reported quarterly profit and revenue that fell short of market expectations. The preliminary operating profit for the September quarter was approximately 9.1 trillion won ($6.8 billion), significantly below analysts' forecast of 11.5 trillion won. Revenue came in at 79 trillion won, also missing the anticipated 81.57 trillion won. Samsung plans to release a full financial report, including net profit and segment breakdown, later this month.
This year, Samsung's stock has declined by more than 20%, reflecting its struggles in key markets. In the AI sector, Samsung's memory chips, which work in conjunction with NVIDIA's processors, lag behind competitor SK Hynix. In custom chip manufacturing, the competition with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has not seen significant progress.
Analysts have revised Samsung's price target downward due to these challenges in its chip division. Macquarie downgraded Samsung from "outperform" to "neutral" on September 25 and slashed the price target from 125,000 won to 64,000 won.
