UPDATE 1-Barr posts profit, forecasts 2008 below targets

(Adds details from results, shares, outlook)

NEW YORK Feb 28 (Reuters) - Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc BRL.N reported a fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by its Pliva acquisition and higher sales of its brand-name medicines, but shares fell as the company forecast 2008 earnings below analysts' targets.

The main reasons for its below-estimate 2008 forecast, Barr said, were a higher tax rate than analysts expected and lower revenue than some expected from generic versions of Merck's (MRK.N) blockbuster osteoporosis drug Fosamax.

For the quarter, Barr posted net income of $32.5 million, or 30 cents per share. Excluding special items, earnings were 79 cents a share.

Including stock-based compensation expense, Barr's earnings beat analyst estimates by 2 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

A year ago, Barr reported a net loss of $390.9 million, or $3.67 per share, as results were hurt by charges related to the Pliva acquisition.

New Jersey-based Barr said the comparison with year-ago results is "not very meaningful" because it has changed its fiscal year and completed the $2.4 billion deal for Croatia's Pliva.

Barr posted revenue of $668.7 million.

Sales of the Company's generic products were $506 million. Sales of generic products in Europe and other international markets through Pliva were $196 million. Pliva's U.S. products, including the azithromycin antibiotic, also helped drive Barr's domestic sales.

Sales of Barr's higher-margin brand-name drugs jumped 24 percent to $122 million, helped by its Plan B emergency contraceptive and Seasonique birth-control pill.

Barr forecast 2008 earnings excluding items of about $3.05 per share to $3.35 per share on revenue of $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion. Analysts expect $3.67 a share.

The company said its 2008 tax rate would be in the high 30s while analysts generally expected it to be in the low 30s. Barr also excludes from its forecast potential profits from patent challenges, where some analysts include those potential gains in their estimates.

Shares fell 69 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $48.50 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; editing by John Wallace and Dave Zimmerman)