Samsung's chip, screen sales may drive Q4 profit to 3-year high

Seoul

SAMSUNG Electronics Co Ltd is likely to forecast its best quarterly profit in nearly three years on Friday, analysts said, with robust memory chip sales easing the pain of the costly failure of a flagship smartphone.

The South Korean firm discontinued sales of the Galaxy Note 7 phones after some of the devices caught fire, warning of a US$2.1 billion hit to its profit in the fourth quarter of 2016 due to expenses tied to an ongoing global recall and lost sales.

But investors are betting a surge in sales of memory chips and organic light-emitting diode screens for smartphones will translate into strong earnings growth for the October-De…