UPDATE 1-Valmont Q3 profit beats Street, sees lower Q4 sales

* Q3 EPS $1.53 vs est $1.07 * Q3 sales down 12 pct

* Shares down 2 pct in after-market trade

Oct 15 (Reuters) - Valmont Industries Inc (VMI.N), a maker of lightning poles and support structures, posted quarterly profit that beat estimates, driven by its utility support structures segment.

However, the company forecast lower fourth-quarter sales with nearly flat earnings, citing significantly lower backlog in its utility business.

"Additionally, the continued global economic recession and the lack of a multi-year U.S. highway bill constrain growth in our engineered support structures and coatings segments," Chief Executive Mogens Bay said in a statement.

For the third quarter ended Sept. 26, net income was $40.5 million, or $1.53 a share, compared with $37.0 million, or $1.40 a share, a year ago.

Sales at the company, which also makes mechanized irrigation equipment for agriculture, fell 12 percent to $434 million. Sales at its utility support structures segment rose 33 percent to $150.7 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $1.07 a share, before special items, on revenue of $436.4 million according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company fell 2 percent to $86.80 in trading after the bell. They closed at $88.50 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Divya Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Pradeep Kurup)