South Korea’s major shipbuilders, led by top player Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., may report poorer-than-expected earnings for the second quarter of the year, as they delivered more low-priced ships, data showed.

The combined second-quarter operating income for the country’s top five shipyards, including Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., was estimated at 286 billion won (US$283 million), according to the data compiled by financial service provider FnGuide.

The data were based on earnings estimates by three or more brokerage houses for each firm.

Hyundai Heavy is expected to have logged an operating income of 25 billion won during the April-June period, a sharp plunge of 91.4 percent from a year earlier, and Samsung Heavy Industries may report 187 billion won in operating income, also 35 percent down from a year earlier, according to the data.

Daewoo Shipbuilding’s second-quarter operating income is estimated at 125 billion won, also down 1.79 percent from a year earlier, they showed.

“Their business performance may not improve sharply this year due to delivery of low-priced ships,” said Lee Kang-rok, an analyst at KTB Investment & Securities. “Adding to this, there are fewer new orders, which is putting pressure on their stock prices.”

The data also show that they have combined orders valued at $10.33 billion through May this year, achieving 22.7 percent of their targets for the year.

Hyundai Heavy has logged $4.53 billion worth of orders in the first five months of the year, equivalent to 28.2 percent of its annual target of $16.05 billion. Samsung Heavy has bagged orders totaling $3.9 billion during the cited period, and Daewoo Shipbuilding has clinched $1.9 billion worth of orders.

Shares of Hyundai Heavy have lost some 30 percent this year, closing at 179,000 won on Friday.

Samsung Heavy has seen its share price drop 28 percent in 2014, while Daewoo Heavy has plunged 15 percent.