Samsung has bad Q2

THAT’S THE WAY THE BALL BOUNCES: If this were a World Cup match between South Korea and the U.S., you might say the Korean team had fallen behind in a tight battle after scoring an own goal. Samsung said today that operating profit for its fiscal Q2 fell for the third quarter in a row, the 22.3% decline representing the first double-digit drop in nearly three years. The hardware giant had spent the quarter flushing excess inventories of smartphones, leading to higher marketing expenses. The Wall Street Journal reports that analysts at Macquarie believe Samsung shipped too many units of its flagship Galaxy S5 to distributors when it was released in April, leading to a sharp drop-off in June. It would appear Samsung’s overconfidence has caused it to kick itself in the shin. (7/8a)