South Korea`s household electronics names Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. will keep up their hot earnings streak in the second quarter, given the simmering pent-up demand for luxury appliances as developed economies normalize slowly with vaccine rollouts.

Brokerage houses have raised second-quarter earnings estimates for Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics after the tech giants disclosed earnings guidance for the first quarter well above consensus.

According to compiling by local financial data tracker FnGuide, Samsung Electronics is expected to do better in the second quarter - 9.95 trillion won ($8.83 billion) in operating profit on sales of 61.57 trillion won. In the first quarter, the company projected an operating income of 9.3 trillion won on sales of 65 trillion won.

LG Electronics which delivered its best three-month profit of 1.5 trillion won on record sales of 18.8 trillion won in the first quarter is expected to see 90.6 percent on-year surge in profit and 21.9 percent jump in sales in the following quarter.

TVs and air conditioners will continue to drive their performance in the warmer weather.

Global market researcher Omdia’s latest report showed that global TV shipments are projected to reach 223.09 million units this year, down 1 percent from last year, but shipments of premium TVs will surge.

Samsung’s QLED TV sales are forecast to jump 26 percent on year to 12 million units this year, surpassing the 10 million-milestone for the first time.

LG is expected to sell 5.8 million units of OLED TVs, gaining 60 percent against a year ago. It announced earlier that its 2021 OLED TV lineup will consist of 18 models, six more than last year. Its mini-LED TV ‘LG QNED’ will also be launched in the second quarter.

By Park Jae-young and Lee Soo-min

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