Samsung Elec estimates 0.2% drop in Q1 operating profit, beats expectations

SEOUL, April 8 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics 005930.KS on Tuesday estimated a 0.2% drop in first-quarter operating profit from a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates on solid smartphone sales and better-than-expected sales of memory chips.

The world's largest memory chipmaker estimated an operating profit of 6.6 trillion won for the January-March period, versus a 5.1 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate.