South Korea’s leading companies are generally upbeat about their earnings in the first quarter and are brushing off initial “earnings shock” concerns, industry and financial sources said Sunday.

The predictions come as listed companies prepare to announce their earnings report for the three-month period in the coming weeks, amid worries raised by some investors spooked by a possible repeat of the “earnings shock” of Samsung Electronics Co. late last year.

Sources said that forecasts for electronics and autos, the two main industrial pillars sustaining the local economy, appeared positive, with earnings figures expected to improve in the first quarter vis-a-vis the last three months of 2013.

They said that construction companies helped by overseas orders will likely report better numbers, with improvement also expected for the steel sector, mainly due to base effect caused by poor showings in the past.

Oil refineries, petrochemicals and shipbuilding, on the other hand, are expected to be hard pressed to make a comeback.

Market analysts and corporate insiders said operating profits for Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 1 mobile phone manufacturer, is expected to reach 8.5 trillion won ($7.95 billion), helped by profits generated by its information technology and mobile business sectors.

IBK Securities Co. estimated Samsung’s IT and mobile operations will post earnings of around 6 trillion won, with semiconductors adding 2 trillion won. Consumer electronics and displays will contribute another 500 billion won, it said.

“Better-than-expected demand for mobile phones in the past few months are fueling gains,” it said.

SK hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, is expected to go up by 23 percent to 25 percent to top 970 billion won in the first quarter. The rise is mainly attributable to higher prices for dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM.

LG, another electronics giant, is expected to witness an 8.4 percent rise in operating profits compared with the fourth quarter of 2013, as well as modest net profits. (Yonhap)