Were Samsung's Earnings Really That Bad?

Samsung is a consumer electronics giant that has made fairly short work of becoming the top smartphone vendor by unit volume. Further, thanks to its very tight vertical integration (which includes chips, DRAM, NAND, and displays all in-house), it has a very attractive cost structure even in the low end of its product lineup. That being said, the company's earnings report was less-than-stellar.

Due to a one-time bonus payment to employees, coupled with slower-than-expected sales of its flagship Galaxy S4, the company saw an unexpected drop in operating profits. Further, the company's forecast indicated that it would see a fairly difficult (but seasonal) first half of 2014 before things really picked up in the second half. Should Samsung investors be worried? Will the Galaxy S5 be enough to save the day from Apple's share gains?

Join Evan Niu, CFA and Ashraf Eassa as they discuss Samsung's recent earnings report.

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The article Were Samsung's Earnings Really That Bad? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Ashraf Eassa has no position in any stocks mentioned. Eric Bleeker, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned. Eric Bleeker, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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