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SEOUL—Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE 0.00% issued guidance for record operating profit in the third quarter, but the company could face pressure from shareholders to unleash its cash pile as saturation in the smartphone market threatens a slowdown in earnings growth for the South Korean company.

The world’s biggest smartphone maker by shipments said Friday it expects operating profit of between 9.9 trillion won and 10.3 trillion won ($9.2 billion and $9.6 billion) for the three months ended Sept. 30. It posted record operating profit of 9.5 trillion won in the second quarter.

Samsung’s estimate represents growth of between 22.8% to 27.8% from the 8.06 trillion won in operating profit posted a year earlier, but a slowdown from the 47.5% rise in the second quarter.

With Samsung, Apple and dozens of other smaller players, is Asia’s smartphone market becoming too fragmented? Deborah Kan talks with Mark Newman, senior research analyst at Sanford Bernstein.

Sales are expected to come in between 58 trillion won and 60 trillion won, up by 11% to 15% from 52.18 trillion won a year earlier, it said.

Samsung didn’t provide an estimate of its third-quarter net profit or provide reasons for its guidance. The company’s financial results are scheduled for release at the end of October, when it will provide breakout figures for its four business divisions—mobile, consumer electronics, chips and displays.

“Despite record-high earnings, doubts over the sustainability of smartphone-driven profits hint at an overall valuation discount for Samsung,” Greg Roh, an analyst with HMC Investment & Securities, wrote in a research note.

Samsung’s shares finished the day unchanged at 1,418,000 won ($1,324). Although Samsung’s stock price has recovered somewhat from its 2013 low, some analysts don’t expect a sharp rebound because marketing costs and increasing sales of mid- and low-price handsets are squeezing margins at the company’s core mobile business. Samsung derives two-thirds of its operating profit from its mobile business.

Samsung and Apple Inc. AAPL -0.40% have a virtual duopoly in the high-end smartphone market, but competition is rising. Several analysts have warned that with Samsung’s smartphone sales showing signs of plateauing, the company needs to respond to rising demands for shareholder-friendly actions, such as increasing its dividend or making its shares more easily accessible to U.S. investors.

In a report to clients last week, Mark Newman, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, blamed the weakness in Samsung’s share price on “inadequate cash return,” especially as growth slows and as Samsung’s cash hoard rises to about $50 billion.

“Growth is slowing and cash is accumulating,” Mr. Newman said in an interview. “This is getting more and more important for investors.”

Last year, Apple announced its first dividend in more than a decade, after some prominent investors pressured the company to return some of its growing cash pile to investors. Mr. Newman says Samsung is on pace to see its cash reserves top $100 billion by 2015, a scenario that is already prompting some institutional investors to turn up the pressure on Samsung to follow in Apple’s footsteps.

Separately, Mr. Newman, who is bullish on Samsung, argues that the company “desperately needs” to expand its investor base, either through a secondary U.S. listing or issuance of an American depositary receipt.

Samsung is a rarity among Asian technology companies with a global presence in that it doesn’t issue ADRs, making trading of their shares difficult for those in the U.S., home to the world’s deepest and most liquid capital markets.

Mr. Newman argued that stock return is “highly correlated to buying by foreigners,” and that Samsung’s inaccessibility to a pool of eager investors like those in the U.S. “significantly limits Samsung’s volume, which we believe holds back the stock.”

Samsung declined to comment on Mr. Newman’s report, though it said “various factors” would be taken into consideration when reviewing shareholders’ return policy.

Analysts estimate Samsung to have shipped between 85 million and 89 million smartphones in the third quarter. In the second quarter, Samsung had a dominant 33.1% share of the global market, while Apple trailed in second place with 13.6%, according to researcher Strategy Analytics. Samsung doesn’t disclose unit sales figures for its phones.

In a bid to revive enthusiasm for mobile gadgets, Samsung in September unveiled its much-awaited smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, and it also plans to introduce a phone with a curved screen. Analysts, however, expect those devices to remain niche products for this year, unlikely to contribute much to the company’s mobile earnings.

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