Samsung Elec Q4 profit falls on chips, flat screens

SEOUL Jan 28 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS), the world's top memory chipmaker, reported its weakest profit in six quarters, as muted global demand for televisions and computers hit prices of its mainstay chips and flat screens.

Samsung, also the world's No.2 maker of mobile phones, reported on Friday a 3.01 trillion won ($2.70 billion) operating profit for October-December, missing a consensus forecast for a 3.4 trillion won profit polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Earlier this month, Samsung said it would post an operating profit of between 2.8 trillion won and 3.2 trillion won. [ID:nL3E7C70AH]

The result compares with a 4.9 trillion won profit in the preceding quarter and 3.44 trillion won a year earlier.

Samsung trails Nokia (NOK1V.HE) in mobile phones and competes with Sony Corp (6758.T) and LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) in TVs and Toshiba (6502.T) and Hynix (000660.KS) in semiconductor.

Shares in Samsung, whose $145 billion market value is now larger than Intel's (INTC.O) and Hewlett Packard's (HPQ.N), have risen by a third to record highs in the last three months, beating a 10 percent gain in the KOSPI .KS11. (Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Anshuman Daga)