It's no secret that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is affecting businesses all around the world, including in the technology world. Both Microsoft and Apple warned investors that they may not be able to meet their earnings goals for this quarter in light of the outbreak, but it seems that not every company is suffering equally.
In fact, both LG and Samsung have shared earnings guidance information for the first quarter of 2020, and surprising as it may be, both have actually seen a boost in operating profits compared to last year.
In the case of Samsung, sales are expected to be worth between 54 and 56 trillion Korean won ($44.68 to $46.34 billion), and operating profits range between 6.3 and 6.5 trillion won ($5.21 to $5.38 to billion). That's up from 52.39 trillion won ($43.35 billion) in sales and 6.23 trillion won ($5.16 billion) in operating profits in the same quarter of last year. Naturally, the numbers are down from the previous quarter, which is around the holidays.
On LG's side, sales are actually down year-on-year, with an estimated 14.7 trillion won ($12.16 billion) compared to last year's 14.92 trillion won ($12.35 billion). Still, operating profits increased significantly, with LG estimating a profit of 1.1 trillion won ($910 million) in the first three months of 2020, compared to 900.6 billion won ($745 million) in the same period of last year.
These aren't final numbers, and neither company provides much of an explanation as to why results were better this year despite the adverse conditions. Full earnings reports are likely coming in the next few weeks.
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