We are halfway through the third quarter earnings season… and according to one market research firm,... one out of THREE listed firms here in South Korea saw operating profits *significantly below what had been predicted.
Our Ko Roon-hee explains further.

Financial information provider FnGuide says 1 out of 3 listed firms in Korea suffered earning shocks in the third quarter with reported profits significantly below analysts' expectations.

FnGuide says 37 out of the 114 KOSPI or KOSDAQ listed companies with consensus estimates based on combined estimates of 3 or more analysis firms... recorded operating profits significantly below those estimates. These firms saw their profits fall more than 10% short of the forecasted numbers.

For instance, one Korean pharmaceutical company only made around 178-thousand U.S. dollars of operating profits in the third quarter.
This is significantly lower than stock firms' profit estimates of around 23-million dollars.

And more than 60 of the 114 firms saw operating profits below stock firms' estimates.
The situation is especially grim for Korea's auto industry.
Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors' third quarter operating profits both fell short of consensus estimates.
Analysts say this signals a downward trend in profit growth among local companies.
They added that 4th quarter market consensus estimates are being lowered.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.