Samsung took a stock hit on Friday, losing $12 billion as prices dropped 6 percent after reports of Galaxy S4 sales slowing down. The S4 looked great out of the gate, with huge sales numbers but analysts now report that sales of high-end Samsung smartphones aren’t meeting expectations. Orders for Samsung Galaxy S4 units from manufacturing partners will reportedly drop 20 to 30 percent in Q3 2013, well short of sales projections.
It seems like only yesterday (ok, last week) that Samsung was posting astronomical sales numbers for its flagship, the Galaxy S4. But now a new J.P. Morgan report is casting doubt on the future, and casting Samsung stock into freefall.
From the Wall Street journal Story:
Traders said the decline was triggered by a research note from J.P. Morgan analyst J.J. Park, who wrote that shipments of the Galaxy S4 for the third quarter would likely “disappoint” investors, resulting in lower-than-expected margins for Samsung.
“Our supply chain checks show monthly orders have been cut 20%-30% to 7 to 8 million units (from 10 million) starting July,” wrote Mr. Park. He downgraded Samsung’s share price target to KRW1,900,000 from KRW2,100,000 previously.
Samsung declined to comment Friday. The share price decline was reminiscent of the fall in Apple Inc. shares earlier this year, which was sparked by concerns over iPhone sales.
[Via: WSJ]