UPDATE 2-CH Robinson Q4 profit trails Street view; shares fall

* Q4 EPS $0.52 vs est $0.56

* Q4 revenue up 3 pct

* Sees limited 2010 margin growth for transportation unit

* Shares fall 10 pct after market (Adds details from conference call, background)

BANGALORE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Third-party logistics provider C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW.O) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, weighed down by a weak freight market, and said margins will continue to take a hit in 2010.

Shares of the company, which have not fallen more than 5 percent on a single day in the last one year, were trading down 10 percent at $51.90 after the bell.

The company's gross margins in the beginning of 2010 were at the low end of its historical range, Chief Executive John Wiehoff said on a conference call with analysts.

The CEO said margin expansion and revenue growth at its transportation segment would be limited in 2010.

However, he said the company, the biggest logistics provider in the United States, was "very positive" about volume growth, and that volumes continued to accelerate in North American truckload services during the quarter and into January.

On a per business day basis in January, total net revenue was roughly flat, the company said in a statement.

CH Robinson, which competes with Hub Group (HUBG.O), UTi Worldwide (UTIW.O) and Echo Global Logistics (ECHO.O), acts a broker between clients who want to transfer their goods and truckers.

The freight market in the United States has been in recession for about three years now. Excess capacity in the market has put pressure on pricing, and dented profits and margins at truckers, rails and freight brokers.

"Market conditions of supply and demand will dictate if and when any pricing adjustments are appropriate during 2010," Wiehoff said.

For the fourth quarter, CH Robinson's net income was $87.7 million, or 52 cents a share, compared with $88.9 million, or 52 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose about 3 percent to $2.01 billion.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 56 cents a share on revenue of $2.01 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company, whose employment levels are down 8 percent from a year earlier, had not missed Wall Street profit estimates in the last five quarters.

The stock, which has gained 25 percent in value over the past 12 months, closed at $57.42 Tuesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)