Samsung Electronics says fourth-quarter operating profit likely up 50 percent year-on-year

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Friday its fourth-quarter operating profit likely rose 50 percent from a year earlier, beating expectations as memory chips and displays likely made up for the scrapped Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

Samsung said October-December profit was likely 9.2 trillion won ($7.8 billion), compared with 8.2 trillion won tipped by a Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate from a survey of 21 analysts.

Revenue for the quarter was likely down 0.6 percent to 53 trillion won, the company said. Samsung did not provide further details and will release full earnings results at end-January.

($1 = 1,180.5500 won)

(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates)