REFILE-UPDATE 4-China's Sina eyes robust Q4, open to spin-offs

(Refiles to remove extraneous word in third-last paragraph)

* Q3 adjusted EPS 34 cents vs Street view 31 cents

* Q3 revenue $96.4 mln vs Street view $94.5 mln

* Sees Q4 rev $93 mln-$96 mln excluding real estate ads

* Expects strong growth in advertising reveue in 2010

* Stock up 4.8 pct in after-hours trade;14-mth high on Nasdaq

(Adds description of Sina's websites in paragraph five)

By Alexei Oreskovic and Melanie Lee

SAN FRANCISCO/SHANGHAI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Sina Corp (SINA.O), China's largest Web portal, gave an optimistic outlook for advertising growth for 2010 and said it will look at potential spin-offs of some of its specialised portals.

Sina is eyeing new growth drivers after its planned $1.4 billion merger with Focus Media Holding Ltd (FMCN.O) was scrapped in September, after months of government stonewalling over a deal that would have created China's biggest private sector media firm. [ID:nLS260924]

In July, Sina agreed to sell its online real estate business to E-House China Holdings (EJ.N) in exchange for a stake in a newly formed company, China Real Estate (CRIC.O), which listed on the Nasdaq in October. [ID:nN16308690]

"It's not like we will spin off a lot of verticals but in the future if we do have opportunities in certain vertical areas by working with industry leaders...we will continue to explore those opportunities," Sina Chief Executive Charles Chao said during an earnings conference call on Tuesday.

To help it expand the number of users, Sina has a number of niche portals catering to sectors such as food, autos and games.

Chao expects advertising sentiment to improve further in 2010 with the World Expo being held in Shanghai next year and major sporting events taking place.

"If the Chinese economy continues its current pace of recovery, we expect Chinese online advertising market will resume its strong growth next year," he said.

Sina shares rose 4.8 percent in after-hours trade after July-September results beat market expectations and analysts said the strong fourth quarter outlook reflected the strengthening business outlook.