Lates News

Shares of Samsung Electronics gave back earlier gains and fell as much as 6.6% as investors were disappointed by the lack of a new shareholder return plan in its earnings report. Samsung Electronics said it will announce the plan at the end of January. That contrasts sharply with SK Hynix, which on Wednesday not only reported strong earnings but also said it plans to return about $45 billion in additional capital to shareholders. In addition, profits at Samsung's chip business fell short of expectations and an expansion in capital expenditure also weighed on market sentiment toward the company. eToro analyst Josh Gilbert said making the market wait until January to see the full return plan leaves a gap where good news was supposed to come. Samsung also raised capital expenditure this year by about 60%, so until it clearly spells out how that windfall will be split between new capacity and shareholders, there is a real question mark over how much money will actually make it back into investors' hands. Rob Li, managing partner at Amont Partners, said delaying the details of shareholder returns to January is disappointing and gives equity traders an excuse to rotate money into SK Hynix or Micron over the coming months, as the other two companies have clearer paths for shareholder returns.