Samsung profit hit by chip decline, Shell to buy back shares, Unilever raises sales forecast

Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman breaks down today's leading business headlines as Samsung's earnings were hit by the chip slowdown, Shell reveals a buyback program and dividend hike, and Unilever raises its revenue forecast.

Video transcript

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JULIE HYMAN: Here's a look at some of the other headlines that we are watching right now. First up, Samsung's third-quarter profit missed analysts' estimates. The world's top maker of memory chips came out with-- and smartphones, I should say-- said demand for its semiconductors may recover later next year, despite global economic headwinds. Samsung is expected to keep capital expenditure cuts to a minimum in 2023, and forecast increased demand for smartphones and wearables in the fourth quarter.

The company also appointed third-generation heir Lee Jae-yong as its executive chairman. This comes as the company looks for, quote, "stronger accountability and business stability" in light of the current, uncertain global business environment.

And Shell is getting a boost today following the announcement of a new share buyback program, resulting in an additional $4 billion of distributions. Expected to be completed by its fourth-quarter 2022 results announcement. In addition, the British multinational oil and gas company plans to increase the dividend-per-share for the fourth quarter by 15%. This all coming a show reported in earnings beat in its latest quarter.

And Unilever raised its sales forecast for the year after hiking prices by a record 12 and 1/2% in the third quarter. The increase in pricing led to the company's sales growth accelerating to 10.6% in the third quarter. The consumer goods giant now expecting underlying sales growth for the full-year 2022 to be above 8%. However, Unilever sees more negative underlying volume growth than in the first nine months, as shoppers are starting to cut back on essential spending.