CORRECTED - UPDATE 2-Bristol earnings edge past views, helped by costs

(Corrects 7th paragraph to show the drug beat the estimate)

* Q3 EPS ex-items 52 cents vs 51-cent estimate

* Q3 rev rises 4 pct to $5.49 bln; Wall St view $5.52 bln

* Raises low end of FY EPS view

(Adds details from results)

NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Bristol-Myers Squibb Co on Thursday (BMY.N) posted third-quarter profit slightly ahead of analyst estimates, helped by cost controls, and raised the low end of its full-year earnings forecast.

Net income attributable to the company was $966 million, or 48 cents per share. That compared with $2.58 billion, or $1.28 per share, a year earlier, when the company recorded a huge gain from the sale of its Convatec wound-healing unit.

Earnings from continuing operations jumped 64 percent.

Excluding items, Bristol posted earnings of 52 cents per share. Analysts on average expected 51 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $5.49 billion, slightly below the $5.52 billion expected by analysts.

Sales of blood clot preventer Plavix, the company's biggest selling medicine, rose 8 percent to $1.55 billion, ahead of the $1.54 billion expected by analysts. The drug, sold in a partnership with Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA), is expected to face U.S. generic competition in 2012.

Sales of schizophrenia drug Abilify rose 16 percent to $653 million, beating the $610 million average estimate of seven analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Bristol, which is cutting jobs as part of an efficiency drive, reported an 8 percent decline in marketing, selling and administrative expense, to $1.1 billion. Sales, general and administrative costs made up 26.4 percent of sales, down from 29.2 percent a year ago.

The company forecast full-year earnings, excluding items, of $2.00 to $2.05 per share, raising the low end from $1.95. The forecast includes a negative impact of 2 cents or 3 cents to earnings from its $2.4 billion acquisition of biotechnology company Medarex. Analysts expect $2.02. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman)