UPDATE 1-Hain Q3 profit lags estimates, shares fall

* Q3 adj EPS $0.31 vs est $0.33

* Q3 rev $267.7 mln vs est $287.8 mln

* Sees FY09 results below estimates

* Shares down 7 pct

May 4 (Reuters) - Hain Celestial Group Inc (HAIN.O) posted lower-than-expected third-quarter profit, hurt by foreign-exchange rate changes, and forecast fiscal 2009 results below market estimates, sending its shares down 7 percent after the bell.

For the quarter ended March 31, the food and personal care products company reported net loss of $41.2 million, or $1.01 a share, compared with a profit of $8.3 million, or $0.20 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding non-cash impairment charge related to certain items, the maker of products including Celestial Seasonings tea, Terra chips and WestSoy soy milk, earned $12.5 million or 31 cents a share.

Net sales rose marginally to $267.7 million.

Analysts on average expected the company to earn 33 cents a share, excluding special items, on revenue of $287.8 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company sees fiscal 2009 earnings of $1.25 to $1.30 per share, on sales of $1.16 billion to $1.17 billion. The earnings outlook includes stock compensation expense of 10 cents a share.

Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.31 a share, before special items but including stock based compensation, on revenue of $1.18 billion for the year.

Shares of the Melville, New York-based company fell to $16.70 in trading after the bell. They closed at $18.05 Monday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Poojya Trivedi in Bangalore; Editing by Ratul Ray Chaudhuri)