UPDATE 4-Burger King takes foreign exchange hit; shares down

* Fiscal Q2 EPS 33 cts vs 37 cts Wall St view

* Q2 sales up 3 pct at $634 million

* Lowers FY EPS forecast due to currency pressure

* Shares down 5.6 percent (Adds analyst and company comment, byline; changes dateline, previously CHICAGO; updates stock activity)

By Lisa Baertlein and Jessica Wohl

LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Burger King Holdings (BKC.N) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday and cut its forecast for the year as a stronger U.S. dollar weighs on the hamburger chain's results.

Shares of Burger King were down 5.6 percent in early afternoon trading.

"The headline is the currency. The next important item -- at least versus our expectations -- sales were weaker than we were expecting" in North America and Latin America," said Tom Forte, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group.

The company, best known for its Whopper hamburgers, said profit fell to $44 million, or 33 cents per share, in the second quarter that ended Dec. 31, from $49 million, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had expected Burger King to earn 37 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $634 million.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steve West said it was a disappointing quarter overall but that the company should be helped going forward as commodity costs ease for ingredients like ground beef.

Worldwide, sales at stores open at least one year rose 2.9 percent, driven by increases in markets such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, Central America and South America. In North America, same-store sales rose 1.9 percent, helped by value offerings and strategic pricing that attracted cash-strapped diners.

Total company restaurant margin fell to 13.6 percent of revenue from 15.9 percent.

Burger King said it expected to earn $1.44 to $1.49 per share this year, including an estimated hit of 10 cents from movements in currency exchange rates. It previously forecast profit of $1.54 to $1.59 per share.

The company, which has nearly 12,000 restaurants worldwide, has been sprucing up older eateries, rolling out premium sandwiches, extending hours and adding value-menu items like the Cheesy Bacon BK Wrapper sandwich to catch up with rivals like McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) and Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N), the parent of the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC chains.