Samsung Electronics today unveiled strong earnings guidance for the third quarter helped by growth in its mobile division, although analysts warned that performance in the current quarter could weaken. The South Korean company – the world’s second-largest mobile phone vendor – estimated a record quarterly (July through September) operating profit of KRW4.1 trillion (US$3.5 billion), up from KRW1.48 trillion in the third quarter of 2008. Consolidated sales for the third quarter 2009 are estimated at KRW36 trillion, up from KRW30.27 trillion a year earlier. Its shares rose as much as 1.9 percent in early trading but retreated to be 0.27 percent lower in the afternoon. The company is expected to have sold more mobile phones in the quarter, up from 52.3 million units in the second quarter. Samsung will release its official quarterly earnings on October 30. The results forecast from Samsung is the first from a major consumer electronics maker for the quarter and could point to an improvement in consumer confidence.

The expected impressive results are tempered by analyst concerns that Q4 performance could weaken as the company spends more on marketing and the South Korean won continues to strengthen. “Samsung seems to have reached a peak,” Shinhan Investment analyst Sung Hye-jin told Reuters. “Earnings will likely fall in the fourth quarter as LCD prices have turned lower, the handset division will spend more on marketing as usual, and its rivals have quickly caught up in the LED TV sector.”