REFILE-UPDATE 1-Tower Group Q4 profit doubles

(Corrects to remove extraneous stock symbol, fixes incomplete headline)

* Q4 EPS $0.68 vs. $0.29 yr-ago

* Net premiums earned up 12 pct at $87.8 mln

* Sees Q1 EPS above estimates

Mar 2 (Reuters) - Insurer Tower Group Inc's (TWGP.O) fourth-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago, helped by a rise in net premiums earned and a fall in investment losses, and forecast first-quarter earnings above analysts' estimates.

The company recorded net income of $15.7 million, compared with $6.7 million a year earlier.

Excluding items, it earned $19 million, or 82 cents a share, for the quarter.

Analysts on average expected a profit of 81 cents a share, before special items, according to Reuters Estimates.

Net realized losses on investments fell almost 71 percent to $3.3 million in the quarter. Revenue rose 21 percent to $136.4 million.

The New-York based company said its book value per share rose 7.6 percent during the year to $14.36 from $13.34 at year end 2007.

For the first quarter, it forecast a profit of 80 cents to 85 cents a share, before items, while analysts were expecting earnings of 75 cents a share.

Shares of the company closed at $20.39 Friday on Nasdaq.

For the alerts, please double click on [ID:nWNAB8740] (Reporting by Adheesha Sarkar in Bangalore; Editing by Amitha Rajan)