UPDATE 1-Casey's profit up, but revenue slips

* Q2 EPS at $0.66 vs est $0.60

* Q2 rev down 17 pct, below Street view

* Sees challenging gasoline prices in H2

* Shares down 5 pct in after-market trade

Dec 7 (Reuters) - Casey's General Stores Inc (CASY.O) quarterly profit beat market expectations on lower costs, but said higher gasoline prices may lead to "more challenging comparisons" in the second half of 2009.

Shares of the Ankeny, Iowa-based company fell 5 percent to $29.60 in after-market trade on Monday.

For the second quarter ended Oct. 31, it reported net income of $33.6 million, or 66 cents a share, compared with $27.3 million, or 54 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 17 percent to $1.15 billion.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 60 cents a share on revenue of $1.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Casey's said it expects to raise store count by 4 percent in 2010 and has written agreements to acquire another 16 locations, scheduled to close in December. (Reporting by Shobhana Chadha in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva) ((shobhana.chadha@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: shobhana.chadha.reuters.com@reuters.net))