[THE INVESTOR] Hana Financial Investment on Sept. 26 said that LG Display’s earnings could improve from the fourth quarter largely due to panel price hikes in the coming months.

The securities firm said the company’s third-quarter earnings may miss earlier analyst estimates, predicting revenue of 6.1 trillion won (US$5.5 billion) and operating profit of 279.5 billion won.

“The third-quarter earnings will be negatively affected by an unfavorable foreign exchange rate and operating loss in the smaller panel business,” Lee Won-sik, an analyst, said.

But the company’s fourth-quarter earnings would beat estimates to stand at about 6.9 trillion won in revenue and 503 billion won in operating profit.

“The company’s flagship products, including 43-inch, 49-inch and 55-inch TV panels will be benefiting from price hikes. The smaller panel business unit is also expected to improve profits as it is beefing up productions in the coming months,” the analyst said.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)