Samsung's Preliminary Q3 Operating Profit Was 107.4 Trillion Won, About $80 Billion — Nearly Nine Times a Year Earlier, the First 100-Trillion-Won Quarter by Any Korean Company, and About a Quarter More Than Nvidia's Latest Quarter — While Its Shares Sit 28% Below Their June High

Samsung Electronics' earnings guidance for the third quarter of 2026, published on Oct 8 Seoul time, puts consolidated operating profit at about 107.40 trillion won (the median of a 107.3–107.5 trillion range, as Korean rules require) and consolidated sales at about 195 trillion won (194–196 trillion), on a K-IFRS basis. That compares with 12.17 trillion won of operating profit and 86.06 trillion won of sales a year earlier, and with the previous record of 89.5 trillion won on 171.5 trillion won in Q2 2026: profit up about 8.8 times on the year and 20% on the quarter. CNBC converts the profit to about $80.2 billion; Korean media report it as the first quarter above 100 trillion won by any Korean company. Nvidia's operating income for its quarter ended Jul 26, 2026 was $63.7 billion, so Samsung earned about a quarter more in its three months. The catch: sales of about 195 trillion won fell short of the 200.3 to 201.9 trillion analysts expected; operating profit beat LSEG's 106.1 trillion SmartEstimate and Yonhap Infomax's 105.75 trillion but missed Bloomberg's 108.7 trillion average; the figures are preliminary with no split by business, and full results are due around Oct 29. In market data, Samsung's shares closed Wednesday, Oct 7, at 268,500 won, 28% below the 374,500 won intraday high of the week of Jun 15, and fell 7.9% in the week of Jul 6, when Samsung reported its previous record quarter.