Samsung Electronics said today that it expects a first-quarter operating profit of between 8.5 trillion won and 8.9 trillion won (or $7.6 billion to $8 billion), a sharp increase of at least 49 percent from a year earlier.

Market watchers said the Korean electronics giants appears to be poised to post better-than-expected results despite seasonally slow first-quarter demand for IT products and costs resulting from a patent dispute with its biggest rival, Apple.

The earlier consensus among local electronics industry analysts for an operating profit of 8.5 trillion won in the first quarter was at the low end of Samsung’s forecast, according to Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at IBK Investment and Securities in Seoul. The upper end of the forecast is substantially higher.

The company also estimated revenue at between 51 and 53 trillion won, compared to 45.3 trillion won the year prior. Samsung’s earnings guidance did not break down figures for each of its business units.

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