Samsung faces the Apple conundrum: Expected record profits won’t satisfy analysts

The tough part with being a hugely successful technology company? You just won’t catch a break from analyst when profits inevitably slow — even if they’re still technically “record” numbers.

Just look at Apple, which has been “disappointing” Wall Street over the last few quarters because it didn’t keep up its rocketship iPhone growth. Apple’s stock is down to $420 from a high of more than $700 last September.

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Now it looks like Samsung, Apple’s leading smartphone contender, is facing a similar problem. The Korean electronics giant last night announced profit estimates of $8.3 billion for the second quarter, which is 43 percent more than it earned last year (and a record for the company). But the estimate is slightly shy of analyst’s expecting $8.8 billion in profit, according to Bloomberg.

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Samsung now faces further brokerage downgrades from analysts already disappointed by its slowing Galaxy S4 sales. Samsung’s stock already took a $12 billion wallop last month, and overall it’s fallen by 17 percent this year. Additionally, analysts are worried about Samsung releasing cheaper smartphones, like the Galaxy S4 Mini, which don’t leave much room for profit.

The company has reportedly shipped 20 million Galaxy S4 smartphones after two months on the market (Samsung hasn’t yet confirmed that number), which is significantly faster than sales of its previous flagship phone. As its phone sales slow, Samsung may focus more on its component business, which includes memory chips and other storage solutions.