Samsung Electronics announced its biggest quarterly results ever, but the stock is showing a slight decline early in the session.
With market expectations rising sharply, a view is spreading that this performance falls short of a "surprise," which appears to have failed to lift investor sentiment.
As of 9:12 a.m., Samsung Electronics is trading on the main board at 139,800 won, down 1,200 won (0.85%) from the previous session.
Earlier, Samsung Electronics preliminarily disclosed that on a consolidation basis for the fourth quarter of last year (Oct.–Dec.), it posted revenue of 93 trillion won and operating profit of 20 trillion won. Each rose 22.7% and 208.2% from a year earlier.
With quarterly operating profit exceeding 20 trillion won, it broke the all-time quarterly operating profit record set in the third quarter of 2018 (17.57 trillion won). However, since the securities market had already expected operating profit around 19 trillion won, the stock reaction after the earnings release has been limited.