UPDATE 3-Western Digital Q4 tops Street; sees weak Q1 profit

(Recasts, adds details on tax benefit, updates stock price)

SAN FRANCISCO, July 24 (Reuters) Hard disk drive maker Western Digital Corp (WDC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday gave a forecast for its current quarter that was less than analysts were expecting, and shares of the company fell 10 percent.

For the first quarter, the company said it expects earnings of 81 cents to 89 cents a share, on revenue of $2.05 billion to $2.15 billion, the company said in a conference call.

Analysts had expected earnings of 99 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $2.04 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company reported fourth quarter earnings on Thursday that were better-than-expected, helped by growth in its drives used in devices such as digital video recorders.

For the fourth quarter, Western Digital said net income was $213 million, or 94 cents a share, compared with $212 million, or 94 cents a share, a year earlier.

Net income includes an incremental tax charge of $15 million related to the license of intellectual property to subsidiaries, the company said. In the year-ago period, Western Digital had a tax benefit of $126 million.

Revenue gained 46 percent to $1.99 billion.

Analysts on average expected earnings of 82 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $1.89 billion.