Seoul, Oct 29
Samsung Electronics, facing a challenging market environment and weaker-than-expected third quarter earnings, is preparing new strategies to drive recovery in early 2025, analysts said on Tuesday.
The world's largest memory chip maker reported a preliminary operating profit of 9.1 trillion won ($6.8 billion) for the third quarter, missing market expectations of over 10 trillion won.
Its operating profit more than trebled compared with the same period a year ago, but retreated 12.8 per cent from three months earlier, reports news agency.
The disappointing earnings guidance has weighed on Samsung Electronics' stock, which fell by 30 percent over the past six months. Foreign investors led the sharp downfall.
Foreigners had been net sellers of Samsung Electronics shares for 33 consecutive trading days from September 3 to Friday, dumping a net 12.5 trillion won.
Over the period, its stock prices dropped 24.9 per cent to 55,900 won from 74,400 won, with its market capitalisation contracting to 333.7 trillion won from 444.2 trillion won.
In response, Samsung Electronics issued a rare public apology to customers, investors and employees, calling the situation a "crisis."
"The leadership team at Samsung Electronics wishes to apologise for not meeting your expectations with our performance," wrote Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, who took over the semiconductor division at Samsung Electronics in May.
"We have caused concerns about our technical competitiveness, with some talking about the crisis facing Samsung. As leaders of the business, we take full responsibility for this."