UPDATE 2-Trex posts narrower-than-expected Q4 loss, shares up

* Q4 adj loss/shr $0.25 vs est loss/shr $0.42

* Sales jump 75 pct

* Sees Q1 sales of $70 mln vs est $74.4 mln

* Shares rise as much as 9 percent (Recasts; adds analyst comments, updates share movement)

By Divya Sharma

BANGALORE, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Trex Co Inc (TREX.N) posted a narrower-than-expected adjusted quarterly loss, helped by higher sales of its new products, sending the deckings and railings maker's shares up as much as 9 percent.

For the first quarter, Trex expects sales of about $70 million. Analysts on average were looking for revenue of $74.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Customer programs offered by the company made it attractive for customers to place orders in the fourth quarter rather than wait to do it in the first quarter," Morgan Keegan analyst Keith Johnson said.

That took some amount away from the revenue that the company expects for the first quarter, said Johnson who has a "market perform" rating on the stock.

Fourth-quarter sales were helped by enhancements to Trex's existing decking platform and the success of the new Trex Transcend decking and railing system, the company said.

The company will incur additional costs on the product launch of Trex Transcend that will affect its spending in the first and second quarters, analyst Johnson said.

The costs place the company in a loss position for the first quarter, he added.

The company also said it will keep inventory and capital expenditures low in 2010, compared to historical levels.

For the latest fourth quarter, Trex reported a net income of $1.8 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with a loss of $11.5 million, or 77 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding items, the company posted a loss of 25 cents a share.

Quarterly sales at the company, whose products are sold at Home Depot (HD.N) and Lowe's (LOW.N), rose 75 percent to $51.2 million.

Analysts had expected a loss of 42 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $41 million.

Shares of the company were trading up $1.66 at $19.49 late Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. They touched a high of $19.52 earlier in the session. (Reporting by Divya Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Maju Samuel)