(Adds CEO comments, share price)
STOCKHOLM, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Swedish biometric firm Fingerprint Cards (FPC) FINGb.ST reported on Thursday lower third-quarter operating profit than expected and lowered its full-year revenue guidance, weighing on shares.
* FPC share price down 2.6 pct at GMT 0746
* Says revenue guidance for 2016 has been made more precise at SEK 7,200-7,500 mln compared with previously communicated SEK 7,200-8,300 mln
* Says main reason for change in revenue guidance is that a couple of its customers have reduced their short-term production forecasts for already-launched smartphones
* CEO Christian Fredrikson says "the aggressive fight for market share in China" was behind the reduced short-term production forecasts for a couple of FPC's Chinese customers
* Fredrikson says battery problems in the latest high-end phone from Samsung, a client to FPC competitor Synaptics, has had no major impact on FPC market share as Apple is main alternative for end-customers in that segment
* CEO says "I'm certain we will be market leader" in smartcards. Feels more confident smartcards will become mass market but it will take some time, will give new long-term forecasts at capital markets day in December
* Q3 operating profit amounted to 766.8 mln SEK (346.2) and the operating margin to 41 percent (36)
* Q3 gross margin was 49 percent (45)
* Says the favorable gross margin for the quarter was mainly attributable to a changed product mix compared with the year-earlier quarter. In the third quarter, we continued to note favourable demand for our competitive smaller sensors
* Q3 revenues totaled SEK 1,862.3 m (964.0), up 93 percent
* Says operating margin for 2016 is estimated to be about 40 percent, which is an update from previously communicated estimate that it would exceed 37 percent
* Reuters poll: FPC Q3 revenues seen at SEK 1,942 mln, operating profit at SEK 786 mln
* Q3 cash flow from operating activities was SEK 134.5 M (298.1)
* Says cash flow was adversely impacted by increasing working capital and a large tax payment
* Says for this year, we, in common with independent industry analysts, expect sales of smartphones to total approximately 1.5 billion, of which slightly more than half will feature an integrated fingerprint sensor
* Says the company and independent industry analysts estimate that sales of mobile phones will total approximately 2 billion in the years immediately ahead, and that an increasing share of these will be smartphones
* Says estimates market share for 2016 will be in the mid-range of 50-70 percent of the addressable market, meaning the market excluding Apple
* Says during the third quarter, 36 mobile units equipped with the company's touch sensors were launched by 16 OEM customers, meaning that more than 100 units have been launched to date during 2016
* Says sees major potential outside the smartphone segment. PCs represent an obvious opportunity in the near future, since this will enable us to build on existing products and business relations
* Says sees a lot of market activities around smartcards, but it will take time before it has developed into a mass market since it will require both new products and new approaches in other value chains
* Says a number of new customer projects for smartcards have been initiated in Asia. Several of these are expected to result in smaller-scale commercial projects in the first half of 2017
* Says the buyback of own shares was concluded during the third quarter
* Says 2016 revenue guidance is based on an SEK/USD exchange rate of 8.60 in the fourth quarter