UPDATE 2-Kennametal beats Street, shares rise
* Loss ex-items 4 cents/share; Street view loss 15 cents
* Revenue down 36 percent to $409 million
* Sees FY EPS 50-70 cents ex items
* Shares up 7 percent (Adds detail on outlook)
NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Tool maker Kennametal Inc (KMT.N) reported a third consecutive quarterly net loss, reflecting weak global industrial activity, but results beat expectations and the company raised its full-year profit forecast, sending shares up 7 percent.
Kennametal lost $9.8 million, or 12 cents per share, in the fiscal first quarter that ended Sept 30, compared with a profit of $35.5 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding restructuring and divestiture-related charges, it lost 4 cents per share. On that basis, analysts' average forecast was a loss of 15 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue fell 36 percent from last year's record quarter to $409 million, slightly ahead of Wall Street forecasts.
Kennametal said it now expected fiscal 2010 earnings of 50 cents to 70 cents, up from its earlier range of 45 cents to 65 cents.
The increase was smaller than the first-quarter beat, but the company's shares rose $1.60, or 7 percent, to $24.35 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Nick Zieminski; editing by John Wallace and Maureen Bavdek)
