Earnings surprises continue in the market , dodging the soaring oil and raw material prices and instable foreign exchange rate . Subsequent to POSCO and LG Group , which had announced all - time high quarterly earnings , Hyundai Motor was also found to have posted a sharp increase in revenue , operating profit and net profit . During its Q 1 earnings conference on Thursday , Hyundai Motor disclosed that its sales upped 22 percent year - on - year to 8 . 198 trillion won . Operating profit also leaped by 61 percent to 529 billion won and net profit by 27 . 7 percent to 393 billion won . These figures largely exceed analysts ’ consensus . Samsung Electronics is also to announce its Q 1 earnings on April 25 , which is forecasted to reach 17 trillion won . Although this is lower than its Q 4 figure ( 17 . 4 trillion won ) last year -- a high - demand season for electronic goods -- it is still 2 trillion won higher than last year Q 1 ’ s 14 . 3 trillion won . Samsung Electronics ’ operating profit is also expected to near 1 . 7 trillion won . Analysts claimed that rational explanations can be made for the parade of earnings surprises in Q 1 . First , with the won value weakening , bullish strides were made in export markets while localization strategy of foreign plants and diversification of global economic axis were also analyzed to have contributed to yielding such stellar earnings . Although raw material prices have soared , the cost burden was not unbearable in Q 1 thanks to long - term contracts and superfluous inventory . Nonetheless , the forever hiking raw material prices are expected to hit companies directly in the second quarter . [ Dong - eun Lee / KHS ] [ ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk . co . kr , All rights reserved ]