Samsung Forecasts Weaker Fourth-Quarter Operating Profit

Samsung Electronics expects its fourth-quarter operating profit to fall 35% from a year earlier, missing market expectations and dampening hopes for an earnings recovery led by its semiconductor business.

The world’s largest maker of memory chips, smartphones and televisions said in a preliminary earnings forecast Tuesday that its operating profit is expected at 2.800 trillion won ($2.13 billion) for the October-December quarter, compared with KRW4.310 trillion for the same period a year earlier.