UPDATE 3-Gilead profit beats Street, shares up 6 pct

* Adjusted EPS $0.93 beats Street view of $0.85

* Revenue increases 42 pct to $2.03 billion

* Shares rise 6 percent

(Adds outlook, analyst comment, updates share price)

By Deena Beasley

LOS ANGELES, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) said on Tuesday its quarterly profit rose a better-than-expected 43 percent on higher sales of its core HIV drugs and royalties on sales of the flu drug Tamiflu, boosting its shares 6 percent.

Looking ahead to 2010, the biotech company forecast sales of as much as $7.7 billion -- an increase of about 10 percent from last year.

Wall Street analysts currently project total revenue for the year of $7.9 billion, which includes royalties, contracts and other sources, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Gilead did not give an earnings forecast, but the "implied" number "is well above" Wall Street estimates, Deutsche Bank analyst Mark Schoenebaum said in a research note.

Analysts, on average, expect 2010 adjusted earnings per share of $3.31.

Gilead posted a fourth-quarter net profit of $802.2 million, or 87 cents per share, compared with $560 million, or 59 cents per share, a year earlier.

Adjusting for one-time items, the company earned 93 cents a share, which beat the average analyst estimate of 85 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Quarterly revenue rose 42 percent to $2.03 billion, while product sales rose 30 percent to $1.8 billion.

Sales of AIDS drug Truvada rose 19 percent to $670.7 million, beating Wall Street's average forecast of $644 million, as compiled by Citigroup.

Fourth-quarter sales of Atripla, which combines Truvada with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's (BMY.N) Sustiva into a single pill, rose 50 percent to $697.8 million, also beating analysts' expectations and surpassing Truvada sales for the first time..

Royalty, contract and other revenue more than quintupled to $228 million from $40.4 million. Gilead gets most of its royalty revenue from Roche AG's (ROG.VX) sales of Tamiflu, which has seen strong demand because of the swine flu pandemic.

Shares of Gilead rose $2.68, or 6 percent, to trade at $47.55 after closing at $44.87 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Gary Hill, Phil Berlowitz)