South Korea’s Samsung Electronics posted its first quarterly loss to date on Friday, joining a host of technology companies including Microsoft and Nokia suffering from diving prices and slumping consumer demand.
But internet search giant Google proved relatively resilient to the gloom, joining Apple and IBM as one of the rare bright spots in the battered tech sector. Consumer demand for computers, phones, TVs and other gadgets has slumped as the global financial crisis grew into a broad recession that engulfed the United States and much of Europe and damped demand in once-resilient emerging markets.
Samsung, the world’s top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, posted a fourth quarter operating loss of 937-billion won ($682-million), more than double the loss analysts polled by Reuters had expected.
”Samsung will likely bleed more, if not suffer wider losses, as the global economy is expected to slump further well into the first half of this year,” said Lee Jeong, an analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities.
”Although there are signs that the prices of chips and LCD panels have stabilised recently, it’s hard to predict when they will pick up, given the bleak outlook for the global demand.”
Samsung, also the world’s number two cellphone maker, declined to give any guidance on future results or capital investments for this year, saying only that it would invest very conservatively. Shares in Samsung, South Korea’s biggest company worth around $48-billion, closed down 4,1%, while the cost of insuring against a default on its debt rose.
Sony slides
Technology stocks across Asia were already under pressure after a procession of grim news in the past 24 hours.
In Tokyo, shares in Japan’s Sony Corp tumbled 7% after the maker of Bravia flat TVs, Cyber-shot digital cameras and PlayStation games machines said it would post a bigger-than-expected $2,9-billion operating loss this business year.
Sony blamed sliding demand, a stronger yen and restructuring at its ailing electronics operations and unveiled a more aggressive cost cutting plan, targetting savings for the year through March 2010 to ¥250-billion.
Credit rating firm Moody’s said it may lower Sony’s A2 credit rating following the warning, and analysts thought more would need to be done to restore profitability.
”Sony has not significantly altered reform initiatives from the December plan and will need some time to fundamentally change the business model,” Credit Suisse analyst Koya Tabata wrote in a report to clients.
Microsoft shock
News from the United States and Europe was no better.
On Thursday, Microsoft shocked Wall Street with a profit miss, plans to slash up to 5 000 jobs and stopped offering quantitative guidance except to say profit and revenue would almost certainly drop in the next two quarters.
The world’s top software maker blamed PC market weakness and the popularity of low-cost netbook computers. Its shares fell 11,7% to an 11-year low ”Clearly business conditions are worse than people were expecting,” said Richard Williams, analyst at Cross Research. ”This is a substantial amount of jobs cuts. Microsoft has never had a layoff like this in my knowledge and it’s sending a signal that the times are definitely changing.”
In Finland, top cellphone maker Nokia reported a worse-than-expected dive in fourth-quarter profit and warned the handset market had entered its worst year ever, with volumes expected to shrink 10% from 2008.
China, while slowing, remains one ray of hope for tech firms. Its cellphone market, the world’s largest, is expected to grow 7,7% in 2009, research firm iSuppli said on Friday.
And amid the gloom, investors were relieved Google at least managed to beat lowered expectations. While its revenue grew only 18% year-on-year — a shadow of the 50% growth rate Google used to enjoy — analysts said that was strong for the current climate.
”At least we have something to feel good about with this Google news in what has been shaping up to be a gloomy earnings period,” said Keith Wirtz, president and chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management.
”It tells me that Google is very focused on their franchise and execution as a marketing, advertising and media company. It speaks highly to their business focus.”
Google shares rose 1,5% on the results. – Reuters