UPDATE 1-Plantronics Q4 tops Street, sees strong Q1

* Q4 adj EPS from contops of 53 cents beat vs est of 43 cents

* Q4 revenue beats Street

* Q1 sales view $160-$165 mln vs est $160.3 mln

* Shares rise 5 pct

May 4 (Reuters) - Headset maker Plantronics Inc (PLT.N) posted a higher quarterly profit helped by improved margins and forecast first-quarter profit way above Street expectations, sending its shares up 5 percent after the bell.

"Revenues and profitability exceeded expectations as we experienced better than anticipated demand in our Office & Contact Center product group," Chief Executive Ken Kannappan said in a statement.

The company forecast first-quarter earnings of 46 cents to 50 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $160 million to $165 million.

Analysts were looking for earnings of 43 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $160.3 million.

For the fourth quarter, the company posted income from continued operations of 49 cents per share, compared with a loss of 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, income from continued operations was 53 cents a share. Revenue rose 27 percent to $162.3 million.

Analysts expected earnings of 43 cents a share, excluding exceptional items, on revenue of $154.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company, whose brands include Plantronics, Altec Lansing and Clarity, reported gross margin of 54.5 percent compared with 39.2 percent in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

Shares of the Santa Cruz, California-based company were up 5 percent at $33.99 in trading after the bell. They closed at $32.37 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Shrutika Verma in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)