LG Display Co. posted strong results in the third quarter, but warned about a slowdown in the seasonal fourth quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010. Rival Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has seen a similar pattern in LCD demand going forward.

LG, the South Korean LCD giant, reported a net profit of 559 billion won ($484 billion) for the three months ended Sept. 30. This is up from 295 billion won a year earlier. Sales jumped 55 percent to 5.974 trillion won from 3.861 trillion won.

LG Display missed its forecast. It was expected to see a net profit of 818 billion won.

Indeed, there are mixed signals in the market. Strong LCD TV shipment growth during the second quarter and the prospect for continuing growth during the remainder of the year have recently led DisplaySearch to increase its 2009 global LCD TV shipment forecast to 130 million units from 127 million units previously, for an annual growth of 24 percent.

The forecast for TV shipments of all display technologies in 2009 was reduced from the previous forecast by 3 percent to 195 million units for a 5 percent shipment decline from 2008, according to the firm.

''The market for traditional CRT TVs is declining faster than previously expected and the growth in flat panel TVs is not strong enough to fully compensate,'' according to the firm.

''The global economic recession has also had an impact on purchases of TVs. Consumers still want to purchase flat panel TVs, but they are trimming their budgets and setting their sights a little lower in terms of size and price,'' according to the firm

''Therefore, a large majority of the increased shipment forecast for LCD TVs in 2009 is in smaller sizes, below 40-inch. As a result, the average LCD TV screen size will be nearly unchanged in 2009 compared with 2008, after 4 percent growth last year. Average sizes will resume growing in 2010 but at a slower rate than in recent years,'' it said.

LCD TV average selling prices continue to erode by an expected 22 percent year-over-year in 2009.