UPDATE 1-Hexcel Q4 earnings beats market view

* Q4 adj EPS $0.11 vs est $0.09

* Sales fall 8 pct

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Hexcel Corp (HXL.N), a maker of structural materials for the aerospace industry, posted better-than-expected quarterly results as sales and margins improved slightly on a sequential basis.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based company also forecast sales for 2010 to be flat to slightly down as compared with 2009.

For the fourth quarter, net income was $5.7 million or 6 cents a share, compared with $28.3 million or 29 cents a share a year ago.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 11 cents a share, while sales in the quarter fell 8 percent to $266.6 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 9 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $257.6 million according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company closed at $12.43 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Divya Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Kurian)