Stefan Mileschin

The cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street are predicting that Samsung will see profits drop in 2016, thanks to slowing demand for consumer electronics.

The world’s top maker of memory chips and smartphones is expected to guide on Friday its second straight quarter of annual profit growth for October-December. Analysts expect the South Korean firm’s overall 2015 earnings to have rebounded moderately from 2014, when profit fell for the first time in three years.

But slower growth in China and the persistent weakness of emerging market currencies are eroding demand for consumer electronics, undercutting prices of the memory chips and displays that Samsung leaned on to cope with its mobile profit decline, and clouding its earnings prospects.

A Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate derived from a survey of 30 analysts tips Samsung’s fourth-quarter profit to have risen 26 percent from a year earlier to $5.52 billion. Some brokers cut their forecasts citing weaker-than-anticipated components sales, pushing the stock to its lowest level in three months.

Samsung Chief Executive Kwon Oh-hyun warned the firm faced challenges from weak global growth and heightened uncertainties stemming from factors such as financial risks for emerging markets.

The downbeat remarks come amid growing concerns that Samsung and other tech industry firms such as Apple Inc will face earnings pressures in coming quarters as tepid demand undercut sales.

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