Japan's Canon reports Q4 operating profit down 17.9 pct

TOKYO Jan 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Canon Inc posted a 17.9 percent drop in quarterly operating profit on Wednesday, hurt by a strong yen and weaker demand for compact cameras as consumers switched to smartphones.

The camera- and printer-maker's operating profit for October-December fell to 77.7 billion yen ($857.1 million) from 94.6 billion yen a year ago, undershooting the consensus estimate of 100.9 billion yen from analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the business year to December, the company forecast operating profit to rise 26.6 percent to 410 billion yen, compared with the average expectation of a 443.3 billion yen profit from 21 analysts, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine. ($1 = 90.6500 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Sophie Knight; Editing by Edmund Klamann)