Seoul, Jan 2 (IANS): Despite the Note 7 fiasco, Samsung Electronics Co is likely to report market forecast-beating earnings for the fourth quarter of 2016, helped by robust sales in its chip business, industry sources said on Monday.

According to the data compiled by industry tracker FnGuide, market consensus for the operating income of the South Korean tech company is around $6.5 billion in the October-December period, compared to $4.31 billion posted a quarter earlier, Yonhap news agency reported.

Many local securities firms, however, raised their earnings outlook beyond $6.63 billion for the tech behemoth.

In a note to clients, IBK Securities predicted Samsung's fourth-quarter operating income will reach $7.21 billion, up by 68 per cent from a quarter earlier, on the back of the recovering demand for memory chips.

Industry watchers estimate the tech behemoth would rake in some $3.31 billion in operating profit solely from its chip business division.

Samsung, the world's largest maker of memory chips, saw its semiconductor business report an operating profit of $2.79 billion during the July-September period.

The tech firm is also forecast to log $1.66 billion in the IT and mobile division in the fourth quarter, the sources said.

Hit by the discontinuation of the firm's flagship smartphone Galaxy Note 7, Samsung posted an operating profit of only $82.83 million from its mobile business during the July-September quarter.

Samsung will announce its fourth-quarter earnings guidance on Friday, company officials said.