UPDATE 1-Canon beat Q1 profit forecast -Nikkei

(Updates with company comment)

TOKYO, April 20 (Reuters) - Canon Inc. (7751.T) beat its first quarter profit forecast and is on track to exceed its estimates for the full year on strong sales of digital cameras, copiers and laser printers, the Nikkei newspaper said on Friday.

The report pushed Canon's stock up 1.5 percent.

Canon, the world's top maker of digital cameras, copiers and laser printers, will next week report a 21 percent rise in group net profit to above 130 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in the January-March quarter, the newspaper said.

That would beat Canon's forecast by 10 billion yen.

The newspaper also said Canon was likely to book net income of 520 billion yen for the full year to December, exceeding Canon's forecast of 495 billion yen and the market consensus of 504 billion yen based on 19 analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates.

That would mark an eighth straight year of record profit and put it in select company: Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T), NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437.T), Honda Motor Co. (7267.T), and Nissan Motor Co. (7201.T) are the only other non-financial Japanese firms to have cleared the 500 billion yen level in the 2005/06 business year.

Canon spokesman Hiroshi Shiozuka said Canon was enjoying strong sales of copiers and laser printers, but said the newspaper's figures were based on its own estimates. He said Canon would unveil first quarter earnings on April 24.

The newspaper said Canon's sales probably rose 13 percent in the first quarter to 1.04 trillion yen and would likely increase 9 percent to 4.55 trillion yen in the full year, about 100 billion yen above the company's existing estimate.

Canon will enjoy a more than 20 percent increase in sales of colour multi-function copiers and book double-digit revenue growth for laser printers and digital cameras, the paper said.

Canon is said to control more than half of the global laser printer market including the printer engines it supplies to Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ.N).

The Nikkei said Canon's operating profit likely jumped 22 percent to 210 billion yen in the first quarter, beating Canon's forecast by 13 percent, and would likely rise 14 percent to 810 billion yen for the year, 45 billion yen above forecast.

Operating profit was boosted by a weaker-than-expected yen, as well as cost cuts and robust sales of high-margin products such as toner, the Nikkei said.

Shares of Canon closed the morning up 1.1 percent at 6,580 yen, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei average's .N225 0.5 percent rise.