Hain Celestial Q4 net falls, sees '09 rev above Street

(Reuters) - Hain Celestial Group Inc (HAIN.O) posted a 46 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit as an increase in sales was offset by higher costs, but forecast fiscal 2009 sales above market estimates, sending its shares up 6 percent.

For the quarter ended June 30, the natural and organic food and personal care products company reported net income of $6.5 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with $12.1 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items and stock compensation expense, the maker of products including Celestial Seasonings tea, Terra chips and WestSoy soy milk earned 34 cents a share.

Net sales jumped 25 percent to $278.3 million.

Analysts on average expected the company to earn 32 cents a share, excluding special items but including stock-based compensation expense, on revenue of $265.5 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Cost of sales jumped 31 percent to $210.7 million, while selling, general and administrative expenses rose about 29 percent to $55.8 million.

Looking ahead, the company sees fiscal 2009 earnings of $1.54 to $1.61 per share, on sales of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion. It sees stock compensation expense of 8 cents a share for the year.

Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.60 a share on revenue of $1.18 billion for the year.

Shares of the Melville, New York-based company rose to $26.45 in trading after the bell. They closed at $24.99 Tuesday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Divya Nair in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)