UPDATE 2-Portland General cuts '09 profit view, shares fall

* Sees FY09 EPS $1.35-$1.45 vs est $1.79

* Sees Q2 EPS $0.31 vs est $0.53

* Shares down as much as 9 pct (Recasts, adds details, analyst comment; updates share movement)

By Adveith Nair

BANGALORE, July 22 (Reuters) - Portland General Electric Co (POR.N) cut its full-year earnings view and forecast second-quarter profit below estimates, hurt by a decline in retail margins and extension of scheduled maintenance at two coal plants, sending its shares down as much as 9 percent.

"It is a disappointment, but there are a lot of one-time aspects associated with the lowered guidance," Power Insights - Soleil analyst Maurice May said.

Macquarie Securities analyst Marc De Croisset said the news was a surprise, but added that earnings volatility was "a fact of life" for Portland General, given its size and regulatory structure.

The utility's earnings per share for the past three years came in at $1.14, $2.32 and $1.39, respectively, all including non-recurring items ranging from prior outages and litigation settlements, Croisset said.

Recurring one-time items will make it difficult for Portland General to earn its cost of capital and could force it to raise additional equity, the analyst said.

In a statement, the Portland, Oregon-based company said maintenance outage of a unit at its Colstrip coal plant would be extended to November.

The Boardman coal plant, which was taken off line in April with an expected restart date of early June, was now scheduled to return to service by mid-August, the company said.

Macquarie Securities' Croisset, however, said the likelihood of additional outages in 2010 should be diminished following the extended outages at Boardman and Colstrip this year.

Analyst May believes the company might not recover from the decline in retail margins even in the second half of the year.

Portland General Chief Executive Jim Piro said, "Oregon's economy continues to be impacted by the national recession. Retail loads are down, primarily because our industrial customers' electricity use has declined by more than we projected just three months ago."

Portland General now expects 2009 earnings of $1.35 to $1.45 a share, down from its earlier forecast of $1.80 to $1.90 a share.

Analysts on average were expecting 2009 earnings of $1.79 a share, before special items, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company forecast second-quarter earnings of 31 cents share, below analysts' expectation of 53 cents a share.

Shares of the company were down 7 percent at $18.50 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. They fell to a low of $18.07 earlier in the session. (Editing by Dinesh Nair, Vinu Pilakkott)