UPDATE 2-Monster results beat Wall Street forecast

NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters) - Monster Worldwide Inc (MWW.N), which runs the Monster.com jobs website, swung to a quarterly loss on Thursday, as weak global jobs markets outweighed the benefits of cost cuts, but its results beat Wall Street forecasts, helped by lower spending on marketing.

Monster lost $1.4 million, or 1 cent per share in the second quarter, compared with a profit of $30.8 million, or 25 cents per share a year earlier.

Excluding items, Monster earned 3 cents a share, 2 cents more than analysts expected.

The company reduced its marketing spending in the quarter, enabling it to cut operating expenses by 15 percent compared with the previous quarter.

Chief Executive Sal Iannuzzi said he "was not thrilled with bottom-line results," but was seeing a "more upbeat mood" in North America, suggesting sales could bottom out in the second half of the year.

Revenue fell 37 percent to $223 million, slightly below Wall Street forecasts for sales of $224 million.

The New York-based company, which competes with CareerBuilder.com and Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) HotJobs.com, said the operating environment remained challenging, but it was investing in technology and expected to grow its market share.

Monster reported after the closing bell. In regular trading, its shares gained 23 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $13.74.

Monster competes in Europe with StepStone ASA STP.OL and in North America with Yahoo's HotJobs site and with CareerBuilder.com. That site is owned by USA Today publisher Gannett Co Inc (GCI.N), Tribune Co TRBCQ.PK, McClatchy Co (MNI.N) and by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).

Earlier this month, peHUB, part of ThomsonReuters, reported that Yahoo was looking to sell HotJobs, potentially to a strategic investor such as Monster. [ID:nBNG405006]

CEO Iannuzzi said he had no comment on whether Monster might bid for HotJobs. (Reporting by Nick Zieminski; editing by Andre Grenon)