UPDATE 2-Baker Hughes Q1 profit tops forecasts, shares jump

* Q1 EPS ex items 82 cents vs 76 cents expected

* Shares jump 9 pct after lagging sector this year

* Company warns Q2 expectations too high (Adds shares, details from conference call, analyst comment, dateline)

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 (Reuters) - Baker Hughes Inc (BHI.N) reported lower quarterly earnings as a slump in energy prices weighed on drilling activity, but the oilfield services company fared better than expected, and its shares jumped 9 percent.

The company warned that analysts' expectations for its second-quarter profit, however, were too high.

First-quarter net profit dropped 51 percent to $195 million, or 63 cents per share, from $395 million, or $1.27 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company reported on Wednesday earnings of 82 cents per share, compared with an average analyst estimate of 76 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

As for the second quarter, analysts were expecting earnings before items of 53 cents per share before the nudge from Chief Executive Chad Deaton.

Also on the conference call, Baker Hughes said it won a four-year $170 million contract in Brazil from an international oil company, and a $500 million contract in Nigeria for a similar time frame.

First-quarter revenue was flat at $2.67 billion versus the same quarter a year ago but down 16 percent from the fourth quarter.

Shares of Baker Hughes climbed as much as 9 percent to $37.03, their highest for more than two months. With that gain, the stock was up about 15 percent so far in 2009, compared with 25 percent for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange oil service index .OSX. Near midday, Baker Hughes was up $2.78 or 8 percent to $36.72.

"BHI's stock should command better sponsorship than it does as the company has delivered two consecutive quarters in a row that were considerably better than the whisper expectations," Simmons & Co said in a note to clients.

Larger rivals Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N) and Halliburton Co (HAL.N) both reported lower earnings last week, though results were also above analysts' expectations. [ID:nN24396663]

Saipem SpA (SPMI.MI) posted a higher first-quarter adjusted net profit, and the Italian company expects earnings growth in 2009 thanks to its strong backlog. [ID:nLM199447] (Reporting by Braden Reddall, with additional reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore and Matt Daily in New York; editing by Will Waterman and Gerald E. McCormick)