UPDATE 1-American Italian Pasta Q1 beats Street; shares jump

* Q1 EPS $1.23 vs est. $0.43

* Q1 rev up 53 pct to $171.2 mln

* Shares rise 21 pct

Feb 11 (Reuters) - American Italian Pasta Co (AIPC.O) posted a nineteen-fold rise in first-quarter profit that handily beat analyst estimates, helped by higher selling prices and overall volumes, sending its shares up as much as 21 percent.

The company earned $26 million, or $1.23 a share, compared with $1.4 million, or 7 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts were looking for a profit of 43 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $146.2 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Retail revenue for the quarter rose 56 percent to $136.1 million, primarily helped by higher average selling prices, the producer and marketer of dry pasta in North America said.

Cost of goods sold also rose 40 percent to $122.4 million.

Shares of the Kansas City, Missouri-based company rose to a high of $32.40 after the bell. This is more than the stock's 52-week high of $27.00 in regular trade on Nasdaq.

The shares had closed at $26.74 Wednesday in regular trade. (Reporting by Anurag Kotoky in Bangalore; Editing by Pratish Narayanan)