UPDATE 3-Forest Labs quarterly profit beats, shares rise

* Q3 EPS ex-items 97 cents; Street view 86 cents

* Revenue $1.06 bln; Street view $1.04 bln

* Lexapro, Namenda sales top expectations

* Shares rise 4 percent (Recasts; adds analyst comment, details from results, byline; updates share rise)

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Forest Laboratories Inc (FRX.N) posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit as sales of its drugs for Alzheimer's disease and depression topped analysts' forecasts, sending its shares up 4 percent.

Revenue also surpassed expectations for Forest, which is building its product portfolio ahead of the expiration of its patent on the anti-depressant Lexapro in early 2012.

Net income rose 12 percent to $210.2 million, or 69 cents per share, in the third quarter, Dec. 31, from $188 million, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time charges, earnings were 97 cents per share, 11 cents above analysts' average estimate, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 7 percent to $1.06 billion. Analysts expected $1.04 billion.

"They beat pretty big," Collins Stewart analyst Louise Chen said. "Product sales were stronger than expected."

Sales of Lexapro, Forest's best-seller, slipped 0.5 percent to $582.6 million. Analysts had expected $567.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Demand for the drug has been pressured by low-cost generic versions of other anti-depressants.

Forest increased the price of Lexapro 7.5 percent in mid-January, which should boost future revenue, according to Leerink Swann.

Sales of the drug Namenda for Alzheimer's disease rose 17 percent to $282.5 million. The average Wall Street forecast was $273.7 million.

Sales of Savella, Forest's new drug for fibromyalgia, totaled $15.4 million, ahead of forecasts for $12.7 million. Launched in April, Savella is one of the products Forest hopes will bolster profits when Lexapro loses patent protection and cheap generic rivals hit the market.

Forest expects six drug approvals between now and the end of 2012, the company said earlier this month at a meeting it held in New York for analysts and investors to tout its experimental drug pipeline.

The company warned at the meeting that earnings per share might decline when Lexapro loses patent protection.

Forest shares rose $1.23 to $31.89 in midday trade on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Lisa Von Ahn and John Wallace)