In its Q1 revenue guidance on Tuesday, Samsung Electronics said that it expects to earn higher revenues and operating profits during the quarter ended March 2020 in spite of the coronavirus outbreak. The company said that expects its Q1, 2020 operating profit to come in at 6.23 trillion won ($5.23 billion), up 2.7 percent from the 6.23 trillion won it posted for the same period last year. The company also said that it expects its consolidated sales to be between 54-56 trillion won, an increase of almost 5 percent from a year ago.
Samsung’s positive guidance comes at a time when most tech companies, including Apple and Microsoft, have reduced their earnings estimates because of the coronavirus crisis. The outbreak has led to growing concerns over falling consumer demand for discretionary products, such as smartphones, tech gadgets and other household appliances as the number of people losing their jobs continues to rise around the world.
Like most other manufacturers, Samsung has also had to shut down some of its factories around the world, including its Noida facility that was inaugurated back in 2018. While the shutdowns will, no doubt, have a major impact on the company’s sales, the impending global recession because of the coronavirus lockdowns will probably be a bigger headache for the company and other players in the sector in the coming months.
Apple, Samsung’s biggest competitor in the smartphone sector, has already reduced its earnings forecast for the year due to the Coronavirus. Microsoft has also announced that it would not hit the expected earnings in the personal computing segment because of the outbreak, although, sales of the other divisions are unlikely to be affected.
