Samsung tips quarterly profit at record high again

Samsung Electronics Co. tipped all-time high quarterly operating profit, likely driven by strong sales of high-end smartphones that offset weak semiconductor orders.The guidance for Samsung's third quarter earnings showed it was on track to report a record-high quarterly profit for a fourth straight quarter, despite legal tussles with Apple Inc. that resulted in a $1 billion compensation judgment in August.But analysts said a rise in marketing spending will decrease the company's profit in the October-December quarter and sustaining fat margins in premium mobile devices could be increasingly tough.Samsung estimated in a regulatory filing that its July-September operating income nearly doubled to 8.1 trillion won ($7.3 billion) from 4.25 trillion won a year earlier.The result, which is 21 percent higher than Samsung's previous record high profit posted in the April-June quarter, was better than the market consensus of 7.6 trillion won, according to a poll of 26 analysts by FnGuide Inc., a financial information provider.The world's largest maker of mobile phones, memory chips and TVs estimated its quarterly revenue at 52 trillion won, up 26 percent from a year earlier and meeting expectations.