UPDATE 2-Hologic Q4 profit beats Street, 2010 view below market

* Q4 adj EPS $0.28 vs est $0.27

* Q4 rev $402.8 mln vs est $398.3 mln

* Sees Q1 2010 adj EPS $0.24-$0.26 vs est $0.30

* Sees Q1 rev $400 mln-$405 mln vs est $413.89 mln

* Shares down 8 pct

(Recasts; adds details from conference call)

By Anuradha Ramanathan

BANGALORE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Hologic Inc (HOLX.O) reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat market estimates by a cent helped by tightened costs, and raised its 2010 earnings forecast, but shares fell in after-market trade as some investors saw the outlook as conservative.

Shares of the company, which makes the ThinPrep test for cervical cancer and Selenia digital mammography systems, were trading widely between $14.05 and $15.35 in after-market trade.

"Our guidance is essentially flat with the year just ended, reflecting our uneasiness with the strength of the economy and a cautious stance as we begin the new year with limited visibility," Chief Finance Officer Glenn Muir said on a conference call.

As the economy deteriorated, more women delayed their annual medical checkups, pushing hospitals to cut spending on capital equipment purchases.

"It is not an enthusiastic guidance but it is reasonably conservative," Canaccord Adams analyst Matthew Scalo said.

Giving a cautious outlook, the company said it expects to earn 24 cents to 26 cents a share, excluding items, missing market expectations, for fiscal first-quarter ending Dec. 26. It expects revenue to be between $400 million to $405 million.

Analysts were expecting Hologic to earn 30 cents a share, on revenue of $413.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Also, for 2010, the company expects to earn $1.15 a share to $1.19 a share, excluding items, on revenue of between about $1.66 billion to $1.65 billion, below Wall Street estimates of $1.24 a share, excluding items, and revenue of $1.69 billion.

Total costs and expenses in the fourth quarter fell 38 percent to $327.1 million. For the alerts, double-click [ID:nWNAB3207]

For the latest quarter, Hologic said it saw a rise in demand for its Selenia digital mammography orders, with lower priced configurations, which could suggest a trend in improvement over the steep declines in the digital mammography orders in the past year.

Shares of Hologic closed at $15.32 Monday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Anuradha Ramanathan in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)